MEDJUGORJE THERE IS NO MORE TIME TO DOUBT
We now have over four decades of apparitions in Medjugorje behind us. There is no comparable event in the history of humanity. We can say that Medjugorje has been live with Heaven for over four decades. The apparitions of the Queen of Peace are a unique event in history and, at the same time, the final one
Gamaliel, while the Sanhedrin is trying the Apostles because of their preaching in the name of Jesus, intervenes on their behalf and, in the belief that they did not constitute a danger and that it was better to leave them free to preach their faith, said: «Do not concern yourself with these men and let them go. In fact, if this theory or this activity is of human origin, it will be destroyed; but if it comes from God, you will not be able to defeat them; Don’t let it happen that you find yourself fighting against God!
We can well say, then, that after forty-two years of apparitions, Medjugorje is alive and this is also demonstrated by the event of 1 January 2024, when Our Lady asked for three hours of prayer on top of Podbrdo, on a rainy day, with the darkness that was coming, the path conditions not exactly optimal. On that occasion, almost all the people who were in Medjugorje responded to the call of the Queen of Peace, pilgrims and inhabitants were in total about thirty thousand people. This shows that the Madonna is there and that people respond when she calls her.
These facts cannot be overlooked, but must be explained in depth, we cannot just say that the supernatural is there. The supernatural is that dimension of faith in which there are God the Holy Trinity, the Incarnate Word, the Madonna, the angels and the saints. The supernatural is not an entity apart from these presences. The event of Medjugorje, a spiritual event that has spread throughout the world and is like an eternal spring, needs to be explained with an adequate cause.
The phenomenon of new life and conversion can only be explained with a presence, which is not an indefinable entity, it is explained with a Catholic presence which does not foresee entities, energies… The explanation is in the presence of God, of the Holy Spirit and of mediator of graces who is the Virgin Mary. This is Catholic doctrine, other explanations go in the wrong directions, they fall into the new age.
Phenomena, then, must be explained rationally. We must respond with common sense to questions such as: why have six young people for over forty years said they see the Madonna? Why do phenomena occur during these apparitions that science is unable to disprove? Why are there messages? It cannot be said that they are invented by the seers; the messages are theological, perfect, they do not contain any error, there is not even a contradiction. Furthermore, we absolutely cannot leave out the prophecies of the Queen of Peace that have come true.
Believing in Medjugorje is a rational decision
Cardinal Carlo Caffarra said that compared to other apparitions, the plan that goes from Fatima to Medjugorje is a prophecy that comes true and that has a very specific subject which is the Virgin Mary sent by God and an opposite subject which is Satan with his its hosts of representatives here on Earth, of which Our Lady explicitly indicated Russia.
This scenario is behind us and makes this Marian epic which will be the last credible and seriously acceptable, as it fits into the last times spoken of in Sacred Scripture and widely explained by the Catechism of the Catholic Church. There is a panorama of seriousness and rationality which, if examined without prejudice, says that believing in it is a rational act, it is a reasonable response to a call that manifests itself in a unique way.
After over forty years of apparitions the visionaries are all firm in their testimony; on the contrary, in other apparitions someone contradicted themselves and proved themselves wrong. None of the visionaries of Medjugorje, in all these years of apparitions, have contradicted themselves, been denied or lied to.
The context in which the apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Medjugorje are placed has gradually taken on very clear apocalyptic contours. I started broadcasting from the microphones of Radio Maria in 1986, at the time it was a small parish radio; since then I have seen a tree grow that has borne and is bearing extraordinary fruit. I have always had a particular attention to the apocalyptic, since I was a student. Initially, when speaking about Medjugorje, I made references to the Apocalypse but, as the years went by, I realized that that theme was increasingly closer, more and more delineated and clear. In biblical terms, the world has moved ever closer to a head-on struggle between the Woman clothed with the Sun and the infernal dragon.
As time passed I understood that the world was gradually getting closer to that episode described in the Apocalypse in which the Woman dressed in the Sun clashes with the infernal dragon who tries to attack her Son. In short, said clearly and with more understandable images: Satan, freed from his chains, wants to destroy the world and our lives, he wants to annihilate the Church and Christianity.
These apocalyptic contours have taken shape over time; at the beginning of the Medjugorje apparitions the perspective was not so clear. The messages of the Queen of Peace have gradually helped us to understand the evolution of the world and the presence of the Church in the world.
If a war were to start, it would be a possible end of the world because the great powers would pull out of the arsenals the worst weapons ever built.
At the same time, we have seen the frontal attack on the Catholic Church, in the West and everywhere in the world, even in countries of ancient Christianity where an alternative to Christianity has been created which provides for the complete liquidation of the Bible, of Jesus Christ himself and of the entire two-thousand-year history of the Catholic Church.
We have reached the moment when Satan wants to make a coat. The apparitions of Medjugorje unfold in these forty-two years in which Satan has managed to reach the point of reigning, constantly working in an escalation of hatred in the hearts of a magnitude never seen before.
We are at the gates of a time which from a theological point of view is truly that of the Apocalypse. The power of evil will try to prevail and Our Lady with her will carry out that battle which will lead her to victory and the world will have a time of peace.
Precisely because we are at this point there is no more time to doubt. This is the moment of the great apocalyptic battle: do we still want to delay and postpone conversion? Do we want to refuse to listen to Our Lady? Indeed, do we want to persecute her? We must decide.
The criticisms of the opponents take into account the great merits of Medjugorje
Personally I have followed the Medjugorje apparitions from the beginning and I can state with certainty that in all these years there have been many opponents who have made their criticisms. Undoubtedly, in all these years Satan has always been lurking and has brought home some victories. In this long journey there has been no shortage of attacks, seductions, slip-ups, but there has never been a betrayal. In the Message of January 25, 1991, the Queen of Peace said: «Thank you because you will not betray my presence here».
So here is what is the most important thing; despite human weaknesses and falls into Satan’s traps, there have been no betrayals. Our Lady knows that humanity is tempted, that the desire for worldliness is inherent in the human soul and undoubtedly the population of Medjugorje was attracted by well-being, given that at the beginning of the apparitions they were very poor. Certainly the Queen of Peace takes these weaknesses into account but what matters to her is that people remain faithful and do not betray the call.
There is no shortage of criticism online, even duly inflated to arouse deceptive interest. Undoubtedly there have been errors, even if Monsignor Hoser, the first Papal Delegate, declared that the visionaries have a standard of living equal to that of ordinary people. On the other side of the scale, however, there are decades of heroism, sacrifices, faithfulness, prayers, fasting, courage. Until 1991 the people of Medjugorje resisted the communism that was in power and subtly persecuted, literally closed the doors of the parish, arrested the parish priest and the visionaries, had the six boys psychoanalyzed, tried to prevent them from going to school and their parents to go to work.
The first ten years of apparitions were years of heroism and at the same time of prayer and fasting. The population of Medjugorje responded to the requests of the Madonna who asked for prayers and fasting for peace, even if war was not in the air.
In 1991 the USSR collapsed and the following year war broke out, right there. The bombs dropped on Medjugorje did not explode; the surrounding villages were destroyed; for years pilgrims could not go to Medjugorje and at the same time there was a mobilization of humanitarian aid (especially from Italy).
In that panorama of war, destruction and poverty, the population of Medjugorje resisted and remained faithful to the Madonna, they prayed, they endured, they helped the Madonna with prayer and fasting. Throughout the history of Medjugorje, generosity, testimony and fidelity to the Madonna have largely prevailed over human defects. In my opinion, compared to criticizable things, good and beautiful things weigh more. Let us also consider the numerous conversions in all these years of apparitions. Medjugorje is undoubtedly an oasis of peace, of silence, of goodness, of testimony on the part of the people. It is clear that if the human context does not help, people will not convert. After forty-two years, then, it is a miracle that there is this perseverance, this continuous presence of the Madonna, this response from the people. In all this time, then, the population has also increased and those who experienced the heroism of the origins are now a minority. If the apparitions weren’t true, then it would all be over. The balance, then, is such that we can say that the Madonna is still present.
Satan fears Medjugorje because it is the place where the Virgin Mary appears because the place where Her light and Her messages radiates and there is a powerful force of attraction of the Madonna that spreads throughout the world. The faithful of the Gospa are all over the world and are all connected to this great network of Marian prayer and hope. In all these years there has been no shortage of Satan’s attempts to destroy Medjugorje. Satan has launched attacks of three types. The first is the political one; in Medjugorje the communist state did its part to stifle the apparitions and the entire population responded heroically by rallying around the visionaries and the parish.
Even in Lourdes and Fatima the State opposed the apparitions and found fertile ground because a large part of the population was sceptical. In Medjugorje there was also resistance from people belonging to the Church; God allows this to happen and has done so in other appearances.
There has always been a difference in attitude on the part of the Church depending on what was happening. As regards Medjugorje, the Church, in the person of two bishops of Mostar, has been very critical. At first the bishop Msgr. Pavao Žanić believed in the apparitions and said that the boys were not lying; subsequently he changed his opinion, it is not known why. With Bishop Ratko Perić the Church had an even more critical attitude.
The local Ecclesiastical Authority has always let Our Lady work
I was very struck by the words of the Provincial Father who, on the occasion of an important anniversary of the apparitions in Medjugorje, thanked bishops Žanić and Perić for having let Our Lady carry out her plans and in this way Medjugorje had grown flourishing. There was opposition from those two bishops, but it was regulated by their pastoral common sense and by Our Lady. The position of these two bishops has allowed Medjugorje to grow, it has allowed pilgrimages of thousands of priests, it has allowed public appearances.
At first the apparitions took place publicly in the rectory or in the church, subsequently, Bishop Perić decided that they should take place in places that were not owned by the church. This decision was made because, by allowing them in the church, it was as if the Church approved the apparitions. The apparitions take place in the houses of the visionaries, at the Blue Cross, on Krizevac, on Pobrdo. Although the two bishops had been against it, the visionaries were always able to testify; Vicka’s epics with the pilgrims are famous, just think of how many times she spent time talking to them from morning to evening.
The bishops allowed the visionaries to testify and the pilgrims to participate in the apparitions without ever objecting. The bishops let Our Lady carry out her plan and let Medjugorje spread throughout the world. It is also thanks to the pastoral sense of the Church that the visionaries responded to invitations from all over the world to speak to pilgrims.
Jakov, in an interview I gave him on Radio Maria, told the story of his penultimate daily apparition (he received daily apparitions from 25 June 1981 to 12 September 1998). On that occasion he was in Haiti and around one hundred and fifty thousand people were present; that day Our Lady revealed to him that the following day she would give him the tenth Secret and, consequently, the daily apparitions would end.
The visionaries were welcomed and invited everywhere in the world; the apparitions and their public testimonies were permitted by the local bishops without particular opposition. There has always been a benevolent and respectful welcome from the Church, while always specifying that – being an ongoing event – the Church reserves the right to pass judgement.
Infiltration of the modernist mentality in Medjugorje?
In the meantime, Our Lady, thanks to the Church, was able to carry out her evangelization plan with apparitions to visionaries and with messages spread throughout the world. The Church has never prohibited the diffusion of messages, nor that the children have apparitions. The Church has always respected this event.
Always putting things in the right dimension and that is that the Church reserves the right to make a judgment (and will do so in its own time), in all these years we have had this Marian Epiphany which is more alive than ever and which is the hope of the world, Right now. If we don’t look at the Madonna, who do we look at? You have to be afraid to open the newspapers every day, the lust for war is latent and ready to explode at any moment, hatred is rampant, violence is unleashed.
Satan is truly free from chains, no one has the strength to affect. At this moment only the presence of the Madonna can be a reason for hope for us. Otherwise it’s total desperation. It’s a crucial moment, there’s no more time to doubt.
Communism was an enemy that had to surrender; the Church has shown her position through the authority of the two bishops we talked about, but they have basically allowed Medjugorje to grow. Pope Francis, with a profound pastoral sense that is characteristic of him, has even allowed all pilgrimages, even those of Catholic organizations.
In this picture there is something new that has been added compared to the past and it is a very dangerous enemy. This enemy was very clearly indicated by Our Lady in the message of September 25, 2023, modernism: «Dear children! I invite you to strong prayer. Modernism wants to enter your thoughts and steal from you the joy of prayer and of the encounter with Jesus. Therefore, my dear children, renew prayer in your families, so that my maternal heart may be joyful as in the first days when I chose you and the answer was prayer day and night and the sky was not silent but gave this place grace, peace and blessing in abundance. Thank you for answering my call . “
It is certainly a key message in which Our Lady signaled a deadly danger that has gathered over Medjugorje. Our Lady’s messages should never be underestimated, her words are precious and always significant. Modernism, then, is a tool with which Satan tries to destroy Medjugorje.
Lately, in Medjugorje, a questionable perspective has been spreading which, according to some, took inspiration from the Ruini Commission. This is an authoritative but consultative document and, if a document is not published on the Holy See website, it is not official and does not entail particular obligations.
Perhaps taking inspiration from the hypothesis according to which there were probably apparitions in Medjugorje in the first seven days and the subsequent ones would have to be evaluated, the worm of doubt has crept in. The hypothesis has been spreading that the Madonna was present in the early days but now there would be no apparitions. ; the place would remain a holy place the same because in any case there would be a supernatural not linked to the apparitions.
In my opinion, a hypothesis that doesn’t stand up. The supernatural is that dimension of faith in which we encounter Jesus, Mary, the angels, the saints and God the Holy Trinity; the supernatural does not exist as an entity in itself. How, then, can one affirm that there is the supernatural but there is no Madonna? Grace has a cause; every effect has an adequate cause.
The phenomenon of apparition, which is scientifically studied and is within the reach of the human eye, must have an adequate cause that explains it, but science is unable to explain it. The phenomenon, however, exists. Scientific observations and experiments were made: flames were lit in contact with the hands of the visionaries and they felt nothing; the eyes of the six boys are all turned in the same direction; they don’t hear any noise, they are practically isolated from the world. Science makes observations but is unable to provide explanations.
Unfortunately the modernist mentality. Which does not lack followers even in the ecclesiastical field, it has been spreading and is, in fact, a denial of the apparitions, insinuating doubts about the origin of the messages and the mental health of the visionaries.
Furthermore, this treacherous current of thought states that Medjugorje can exist without the presence of the Madonna, without messages, without Secrets. Only the Sanctuary would remain where people find peace and convert, the hotels fill up and Our Lady does not have to “disturb” this quiet with Secrets and messages. This mentality was spreading in Medjugorje and perhaps it has taken hold of a part of the population. . This is why the Queen of Peace gave a strong shock on January 1st by calling on Podbrdo, obtaining an extraordinary response.
The first secret is upon us and it won’t be pleasant
The most serious danger for Medjugorje and which must be faced now is that there is no more time to doubt, it is time to believe that Our Lady is here to save us. There is no human salvation to stop the world from self-destruction. God sent the Queen of Peace to save us, it is useless to look elsewhere.
Nothing and no one will be able to stop the Madonna. She will advance like an irresistible host, she will advance like Queen, she will cut off the head of the infernal serpent. We must stop doing human calculations, we are deceived by Satan, we are blinded. We cannot go forward without Our Lady!
People go to Medjugorje because Our Lady is there and because there is a people who believes in her. Woe to us if we did not believe. We must not betray her presence there. The first Secret is upon us; Our Lady allowed Mirjana to describe it by saying that it will not be pleasant and using the words “disaster” and “suffering”.
Let us enter, then, into this battle that is now upon us by siding with the Queen of Peace who, in turn, is siding with the Church. Following the Queen of Peace is the tool that God has given us to be faithful to the Church.
The Queen of Peace has chosen a Parish and is the Mother of the Church. This is the precise and clear choice to make, with enthusiasm and at the same time with a spirit of sacrifice. All this must happen in these end times, we do not know when the Secrets will happen.
Personally I believe that on January 1st Our Lady gave the final blow to modernism, that is to that mentality which denied the apparitions which was spreading and which would have destroyed Medjugorje. Our Lady gave that terrible blow, on January 1st she was able to count the thirty thousand present and made a promise: «You will not regret it, nor your children nor your children’s children». It will be like this.
Conversion can no longer be doubted, conversion can no longer be postponed, conversion can no longer be postponed. Our Lady gave the Church a fundamental appointment for her to express her opinion on the apparitions and it is the third Secret. The Queen of Peace said that the sign on the mountain was given for people to believe. The first intention of the Madonna is to give the sign on the mountain so that the Church believes and therefore gives a judgment on this sign which however cannot be traced back to human works, it will be beautiful, visible, indestructible, lasting, it will come from the Lord.
As regards our response, Our Lady said that there is no more time to doubt, nor to postpone. Time is up. We have reached the point where we must respond to the trumpet sound that Our Lady sounded on the mountain on January 1st and respond with fervor.
The first Secret that will shake the world and which will be talked about a lot is, in my opinion, not far away. The world situation has worsened and we will be dragged into war without realizing it. Then people will run to pray to the Madonna to save us from this catastrophe.
The perspective will be that, at the top of Calvary, there will be the light of the Resurrection and with the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary the Church will also triumph and with it all of Mary’s children. This is realism of faith, this means being in History, within Mary’s plan who gave us the weapons of victory. Whoever is inside should trust and strengthen themselves, whoever is outside should decide which side to take. We cannot act as spectators in the face of events that concern the eternal destiny of each of us.
