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By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them.
Matthew 7: 16-20
The internet is abuzz these days with talk about the impending fate of Medjugorje. Catholic news sources, blogs and forums alike are especially abuzz this past week or so concerning the many recent developments surrounding this ongoing phenomenon. Why all the buzz? Well, for the most part this began only a few months ago with surprisingly favorable mention of Medjugorje by then visiting Christopher Cardinal Schonborn from Austria who spent several weeks in Medjugorje last December and early January. But with more recent developments of late such internet chatter has grown leaps and bounds. For most following the Medjugorje events we can probably all agree that pending decisions of some nature are certainly in the air.
Shortly after the Cardinals visit, and despite Bishop Ratko Peric’s decision years earlier to condemn the purported Medjugorje apparitions ruling them to be false out of what appears to be sheer personal and biased opinion a new commission was appointed by the Vatican to overlook and investigate the purported Medjugorje apparitions. No doubt this was somewhat of a cataclysmic surprise to Medjugorje opponents though they would unlikely ever admit it. But how could it not be? The Bishops sole ruling was their big ace in the hole. This favorable move by the Vatican came despite the adamant refusal by die hard Medjugorje opponents to accept it and embrace it. Mere detractors who have been clearly piggy backing off the Bishop’s personal opinion for years, insisting that because of his seemingly unchangeable stance the verdict was indeed already in long ago and simply could not be argued…
Yet, just as they sounded the trumpets from their pedestals that the door was now shut, locked & chained, and the key thrown into the deep sea of deception, suddenly the door in what appeared to be defying all odds miraculously flew wide open again and Medjugorje opponents had to now quickly go to work to try to conjure up some other means to debunk the purported apparitions. Well, truth be told, there simply is no other ace in the hole. So, with no other means to debunk the Medjugorje happenings they’ve not given up on the Bishops long time stance despite these new developments. Could it be Pride? O’ but how would I look in front of all my peers after all these years of working tirelessly to debunk Medjugorje should the Vatican rule in it’s favor?
Bishop Peric had already spoken out against Medjugorje many years earlier claiming it to be nothing more than an elaborate hoax at best. These die hard Medjugorje opponents today, regardless of the facts, are relentless in their ongoing mission to debunk the apparitions even going as far as to claim that anyone and everyone, including the good Cardinal himself who refuses to honor Bishop Peric’s decision is in fact in direct disobedience to the Church.
Well, now we need to take a step back for a moment and look at the bigger picture here in order to fully understand what exactly is going on before anyone quickly buys into the continual rhetoric of any Medjugorje opponent. It has been a long time argument that if anyone pays any heed at all to the Medjugorje message or even leans slightly towards any kind of personal belief that Our Lady is truly appearing in this little Bosnian town, that this is direct disobedience to the Majesterium of the Catholic Church. Why? Because several years ago, echoing the sentiments of his predecessor Bishop Pavao Zanic, the current Bishop Peric concluded that the purported apparitions in Medjugorje, a town that falls under his Diocesan jurisdiction of Mostar were false and further went on to argue that they were the elaborate invention of the Franciscans who oversee St. James Parish and many of the Catholic Parishes and institutions in the surrounding area. Well, anyone who knows anything about private revelation knows that the Bishop of the particular Diocese that oversees the Parish or location where the visionary or visionaries are purporting to be receiving heavenly revelations and/or apparitions generally has the authority to rule whether the purported private revelations are authentic or not. So the case was closed.
This has been the major fuel for Medjugorje opponents. Among an onslaught of twisted facts, half-truths, and even outright lies the one ace in the hole Medjugorje opponents did actually possess was the fact that the Bishop of Mostar himself was convinced that there was nothing spiritually phenomenal occurring in Medjugorje and that at least for a time seemed to have the power to discern and decide it’s fate. And thus, as far as those who stood by the Bishop were concerned the case was closed regardless of any evidence that clearly proved otherwise. The fruits did not matter. The miracles did not matter. The conversions did not matter. The Bishop had spoken and so the case was closed.
Yet truth be told, contrary to what Medjugorje opponents would love to have people believe, little known was the fact that the Vatican actually stepped into the picture as early as 2006 and removed the Bishops authority to rule on the purported apparitions... That’s right.. A higher authority ruled over the Bishops Mitre yet little is ever heard of this even in Catholic news circles today. The reason for the Vatican stepping in? Well, to begin with, because Medjugorje reaches far beyond the diocese of Mostar. Medjugorje envelops the entire Church. Medjugorje has become a world wide phenomenon embraced by countless of thousands of faithful Catholics, not to mention has spawned numerous conversions... But this is neither the only reason nor the main reason. Another reason may simply be because the Bishop clearly showed a sense of bias and narrow minded opinion towards the phenomenon right from the beginning.
The current Bishop of Mostar is a secular priest. The Franciscans who tend to the faithful flock around St. James Parish are not. They are of a religious order that has long had to deal with the unwarranted rivalry of their secular brethren and fellow diocesan confreres. The Diocese of Mostar was created 100 years almost to the day before the purported apparitions began. For at least the first 60 years under the Bishopric of two Franciscan Bishops the Franciscans steered the Diocese of Mostar. Today, the Diocese of Mostar is not under the influence of the Franciscans but is secular. In between all of this has been a sense of dissension between the two groups. A rivalry that has went on long before the apparitions began but has undoubtedly played a major role in the Bishops decision to renounce the apparitions.
What is important to note, and what clearly indicates to anyone who has ears and is attentive to what is truly going on, is that in overstepping the Bishops ruling and further creating a new commission to investigate Medjugorje, the Vatican informed the Bishop that he was no longer permitted to voice his personal opinion in an authoritative manner concerning the ongoing investigation. Medjugorje opponents have never been able to truly grasp this and accept the Vatican’s right to authority overriding the Bishops authority. Opponents generally tend to ignore such facts in their attempts to debunk Medjugorje.
"Dear children! Today I desire to thank you for all your sacrifices and for all your prayers. I am blessing you with my special motherly blessing. I invite you all to decide for God, so that from day to day you will discover His will in prayer. I desire, dear children, to call all of you to a full conversion so that joy will be in your hearts. I am happy that you are here today in such great numbers. Thank you for having responded to my call."
Medjugorje Message, June 25, 1990
So now today, once again our Catholic world is abuzz with new talk. New chatter that is clearly favorable towards the likeliness that most in the Vatican actually share a high regard and personal fondness for the fruits of conversion truly recognized as clearly coming out of Medjugorje despite Bishop Peric’s personal opinion. Cardinal Schonborn’s favorable expressions… Recent talk of the Diocese of Mostar being split in two, something never heard of before in Church history… It is possible that this move opens the door for favorable approval or at the very least, as suggested by one blogger, the possibility that Medjugorje in the not too distant future may receive shrine status, at the same time cushioning the sense of humility Bishop Peric would undoubtedly experience should he be reigning Bishop at the time of this announcement. Also, a commission panel, absent the Bishop of Mostar being put in place to investigate Medjugorje… And now the Papal Nuncio himself is heard speaking favorable about Medjugorje.. These are the current headlines buzzing through the Catholic internet world these days. What lies ahead concerning the fate of Medjugorje? Perhaps only a short time will tell…
Interesting term in itself by the way when you really stop and think about it… I mean, concerning the fate of Medjugorje.. It’s this question of fate that has the undivided attention of anyone and everyone who knows anything about Medjugorje these days. With all the recent Catholic media hype and internet chatter it’s become perhaps quite exciting for lack of a better term, especially for the many Medjugorje faithful who see all of these recent developments as a positive sign. O’ what exciting times indeed we are living in… To the very heart of the Medjugorje believer such favorable fate is truly inevitable. We just don’t know when. For those who truly believe that it is indeed Our Blessed Mother who has been appearing in Medjugorje the past almost 29 years it is also believed and accepted that Medjugorje’s fate lies in the hands of God and that it is through both faith and reason that we pretty much already know the outcome in our own hearts… That in time the Church will indeed embrace the Medjugorje message and recognize these purported apparitions by it’s fruits.. For those of us who are diehard Medjugorje fans it’s not a matter of if but when.
Well, in all fairness, it’s fate likewise also lies solely in the hands of God for those who are opponents of Medjugorje. Believing that the apparitions are false, Medjugorje opponents are also waiting for the Holy Spirit to guide the Church into making a decision. Only for them, the decision they await works in their favor, not ours. That is, that the Church will condemn the apparitions sending us die hard Medjugorje faithful fleeing in the other direction rather than approve them.. Not gonna happen. First of all, I am obedient to the Church above all… But then, it’s so easy to say this when I believe without a doubt in my mind and in my heart that the Vatican verdict in due time will be favorable.
So believers who look to the Medjugorje message each month are waiting for the Church to rule in favor, and opponents who share in the disbelief are eagerly awaiting Church condemnation… Well, hopefully we all believe and worship the same God, turn to the same Holy Mother for consolation in our Rosary prayers the good Catholics that we are, and hopefully we all obey the same Majesterium of the Church. Furthermore, hopefully we all recognize and believe that the Holy Spirit truly guides our Church in it’s discernment and decision making process. So now we are reaching an imminent sense of long awaited impending decisive word, either confirmation or condemnation soon to come out of Rome. There is an ever increasing and vibrantly active spirit among those who have a final say in whether or not the Church will condemn or approve Medjugorje..
Scripture tells us, we will know a tree by its fruits… For the Medjugorje opponent who casts stones at both the visionaries and their Franciscan spiritual directors, as well as at the Gospa who we truly believe to be Our Lady, the fruits are rotten. If only they could present truthful facts in their arguments against Medjugorje their claims might actually hold some weight. But after 28 years that hasn’t happened yet. Everything they’ve waged against Medjugorje has either been outright lies or at the very least twisted facts and half truths.. Well, naturally on the other hand the argument over the past 3 decades by the Medjugorje faithful who have held steadfast in faith and our resolve to trust that indeed this is Our Blessed Mother appearing, has been the countless number of messages, messages that contain no heresies mind you, and which together form a continual school of prayer teaching the Medjugorje faithful student to live the Gospel each and every day… So yet the major fruits are the numerous conversions that have come to fruition as a result of these apparitions.. Not just converts from other faiths coming into the Catholic Church but also new births of conversion within the hearts of many cradle Catholics who had fallen away from their baptismal faith, me being one of them… I join a countless multitude of faithful.
No doubt it’s still a wait and see process.. However to me it just seems a given that at the end of the day when all is said and done, it is the very fruit of Medjugorje that will undoubtedly be the deciding factor in all of this. Other elements such as discerning if the messages contain heresies certainly play a decisive role, no doubt… However, with all the theological arguments either for or against these events, the one vital contributing element that simply cannot be argued or debunked is ones personal testimony. No theologian can say, “Your conversion does not exist” when in fact it certainly does. Myself, I have been experiencing the fruits of conversion as a result of the Medjugorje message for six years now… I pray that my conversion continues and that I am continually drawn ever closer and closer to the Son who this Gospa brings to me each and everyday. The same Son who redeems each and every one of us repentant sinners who confess the name of Christ as Lord… And when you listen to the countless of millions who also share a personal testimony of conversion no theologian can argue this otherwise. That is just a fact.
