Day: March 24, 2017

March 24, 2017

March 24, 2017 “Faithful Await Vatican Verdict on Medjugorje: Cardinal Francis Arinze, whose new book about Marian veneration will be released this month, tells the Register ‘it’s not so simple’ for Rome to rule on the matter.” It’s puzzling that the March 14, 2017 National Catholic Register article (headline above) didn’t cite anyone who was well-informed on Medjugorje.  The principal sources for the story were veteran anti-Medjugorje partisans Donel Foley and Bishop Ratko Peric (see: https://marytv.tv/?cat=5 ).  Perhaps things are “not so simple” because articles like this amplify and propagate the confusion they themselves create. In an older variation of their assault on the apparition, Foley and Peric wield as their weapon early transcripts of conversations with the visionaries. These transcripts are “the key to understanding Medjugorje,” Foley believes, as they “reveal the serious problems with accepting the visions as genuinely supernatural,” an aspect he highlighted in his book.  Foley hopes that more people will pay attention to them, and he would like the Vatican to publish “an agreed and authentic” multilingual version of the transcripts to help the ordinary faithful “better understand the phenomena of Medjugorje.” [expander_maker more=”Read more” less=”Read less”] What Foley does not mention, although he is well aware of it, is that the version of the transcripts he cites was produced at the beginning of the phenomenon by two local Communist Party members operating under orders to end the apparitions. The two members were the nephew and niece of Fr. Ivo Sivric, a Croatian priest who moved to the USA a long time ago.  When his relatives fell into disgrace for their efforts, Fr. Sivric sought to sabotage Medjugorje by publishing doctored versions of the transcript in English.  Foley, E. Michael Jones and others then built their whole case against Medjugorje around these transcripts. The whole affair calls to mind the famous “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” produced by anti-Semites but publicized as having been written by Jews – and then used to justify attacks on the Jews. Anyone can write transcripts – and if it came from a declared enemy why should I trust them if I can’t listen to the actual tapes? All this “he said-she said” kind of argument may have left the debate in the same situation as that reported by the Register if not for one major recent headline not mentioned in the story or by Foley, Peric, et al.  Authentic transcripts of the actual tape-recorded conversations were recently published as Medjugorje: The First Daysby Fr. James Mulligan.  The book has “a full, un-redacted transcript of 22 tape recorded interviews and on-the-spot commentaries with the visionaries.” A comparison between these transcripts and the snarky Sivric version not only exposes the deceit of the latter but also testifies to the transparency and innocence of the visionaries in the first days of the apparition! They support the authenticity of the apparition rather than the other way around as Foley-Peric would have us believe. In an additional attempt to cast aspersions on these events, the article draws attention to what it thinks reveals Pope Francis’ negative opinion of Medjugorje: Some believe he appeared to allude to the apparitions when, in a talk to 140 superiors general of male religious orders and congregations last November he said the real Madonna is not “at the head of a post office,” every day sending “a different letter that says, “my children, do this, and then the next day do that.” It’s more likely the pope was referring to the apparitions in San Nicolas, Argentina, with which he is very familiar, and not Medjugorje.   After returning from Rome last week, Bishop Hugo Santiago, of San Nicolás, declared the on-going messages being given by Our Lady there could no longer be disseminated (March 18, 2017, “Crux”). In sharp contrast the pope is sending his personal envoy to Medjugorje next week to oversee the pastoral care of pilgrims who are coming from all over the world.  And the Papal envoy hasn’t concealed his joy! (“Archbishop Henryk Hoser to Aleteia: We should not be worried about Medjugorje!” Aleteia, March 15, 2017, (Read Article) The Register’s article notes: For Cardinal Arinze, the pastoral effects of Medjugorje are “the most important thing.  If the effects are good,” he said, “we rejoice.” Important for Cardinal Francis Arinze are the positive effects Medjugorje has had on the faithful who visit. “One point that is not doubted is that people who go there actually repent.  They actually go to confession, go to Mass — that is, they become better Christians…. So it is a shrine.” On October 10, 2007 Cardinal Arinze thanked me for my book, “Medjugorje and the Church”.  “May God bless you for the great diligence put into producing this well-documented work which I shall read with great interest.”  For 25 years, readers of Catholic print media in the US have been bombarded with dishonest reporting on Medjugorje.  I suggest their readers take a look at my book (which carries a Nihil Obstat) to consider the other side.  (Medjugorje and the Church, Queenship Publishing) Denis Nolan MISSION STATEMENT: MARY TV is a lay apostolate founded to put at the Gospa’s service (Our Lady’s service) modern communication technologies to bring her presence in Medjugorje – and her school in Medjugorje – to the world. “Medjugorje is the spiritual center of the world.”  Saint John Paul II Be connected! www.marytv.tv  

Be it done unto me according to Your word!

The Cenacolo Christmas Play – the Annunciation! (c)Mateo Ivankovic 2016   J.M.J. March 24, 2017 Dear Family of Mary! Tomorrow we expect to receive the monthly message from Our Lady. It will also be the Feast of the Annunciation!!! What a great day to receive a message from Our Lady. In preparation I suggest that we read and pray over again, the Gospel account of the Annunciation, and then the message we received on February 25. This way we can prepare to hear from Our Lady again, as we honor her as the great Mother of God!! The Gospel for the Annunciation: In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How shall this be, since I have no husband?” And the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1: 26-38) And Our Lady’s Message from last month: “Dear children! Today I am calling you to profoundly live your faith and to implore the Most High to strengthen it, so that winds and storms cannot break it. May the roots of your faith be prayer and hope in eternal life. Already now, little children, work on yourselves in this time of grace, wherein God is giving you the grace – through renunciation and the call to conversion – to be people of clear and persevering faith and hope. Thank you for having responded to my call.” February 25, 2017 At the Annunciation, Our Lady had great courage built upon her great faith. She responded to the Angel Gabriel with honesty, candor, and purity. She was ready to give herself to God completely. And she did! This is the kind of faith that has deep roots and strong branches. May we grow to be like her, even a little bit, in our little lives. Who knows what God can do through us!! In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2017 PS. On Sunday, March 26, Bosnia and many other countries will return to Daylight Savings Time. There will be a shift in the LIVE Schedule for Mary TV starting March 26. Consult our schedule on the home page. It will be back to normal!!