The secrets of the apparitions of Medjugorje

Exactly ten years ago, on December 25, 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and with it the communist experiment that had bloodied the continent for 70 years was swept away from Europe. The collapse of an empire took place without a blow. That such an unprecedented prodigy happened on Christmas day and even the liquidation of the Empire was decided in a meeting that took place on December 8 says nothing to the secular historian, but it is not accidental for those who look at human history with eyes Christians. December 8 is in fact for Catholics the feast of the Immaculate Conception and in the messages of Fatima whose appearances are concomitant with the October revolution, Our Lady asked precisely for the consecration of Russia to her immaculate heart to obtain her conversion and announced later many tribulations the victory of his immaculate heart. The huge slaughterhouse of the twentieth century, the century of the greatest Christian martyrdom during which the Pope would go so far as to hit the Pope, was also prophesied in those messages. The attack on him took place on May 13, which is exactly the feast of Our Lady of Fatima.
The extraordinary coincidence was not considered accidental by John Paul II who believed he was saved by the Virgin of Fatima in whose crown he wanted to set, as an ex-votos, one of the bullets that hit him. Just in recent days, the Holy See has made it known that Sister Lucia, the last of the Portuguese visionaries, recognizes as complete the revelation of the secrets made last year by the Pope. For Christians, the helpless girl of Nazareth, the sixteen year old who gave birth in Bethlehem Jesus under extremely human conditions, proclaimed queen of heaven and earth, has exercised and exerts an exceptional influence on human history to prevent its tragic outcomes. The fact that his public appearances have concentrated mostly in the past two centuries means that the dangers have increased and worsened with the end of Christianity and the immense growth of the power of men over the cosmos.
And it is in recent years especially always according to Christians that his visible and heartfelt intervention to save humanity from ruin has become stronger and more visible. Also in 1981, in fact, exactly one month after that attack on the pope who fulfilled the prophecy of Fatima, the apparitions of Medjugorje began, a village in Bosnia and Herzegovina, then still under the Yugoslav communist regime. The virgin herself explained that she intended to do in Medjugorje what she had started in Fatima. And it is exciting to read the message in which he asks for a novena of prayers and fasting so that with your help everything I want to accomplish according to the secrets started in Fatima. I invite you, dear children, to understand the importance of my coming and the seriousness of the situation. It was August 25th of that 1991 that a few weeks later, on Christmas day, he would see the USSR pulverized without a blow.
These are apparitions still not officially recognized by the Church, also because they are still ongoing. Just for the duration it is an absolutely unique phenomenon in Christian history, because it has never been known of a presence of Mary so assiduous and continuous. The boys to whom Our Lady appeared on June 24, 1981 were 15-16 years old. At that time they had to undergo many intimidations and persecutions by the communist regime. Today they are all adults, have studied, graduated, have families and children. They are completely normal, affable, nice, intelligent people. In the meantime, that remote village of Bosnia has become the most extraordinary pilgrimage destination of Christianity. Millions of people every year reach that goal in media indifference. It is an exceptional phenomenon (just a few days ago in Milan 15 thousand went to listen to one of the visionaries, a very high number that very few newspapers noticed).
The boys were subjected to various scientific experiments during the apparitions and everyone found that something inexplicable happened. But there is another fact that accredits the apparitions. The Madonna from her first words, with her usual discreet and sweet style, asked the boys for prayers for peace. It was a time when no one seemed to threaten peace in Bosnia. A few years later everything was understood. In fact, in that land the bloodiest war that has been seen in Europe since the end of World War II broke out.
The boys, who continue to have apparitions, have been entrusted with ten secrets that concern all humanity. In them it will be clear Mary's plan for the salvation of the world as Father Livio Fanzaga, director of Radio Maria says. Father Livio recently interviewed Mirjana Dragicevic, one of the visionaries, 36 years old, graduated in agriculture, married with two daughters. Indeed, Mirjana has received the ten secrets, knows what they are, when and where they will be made, and has the task of communicating it to a Capuchin friar chosen by her ten days in advance. The friar will have to report it to the world three days before they occur. The purpose of the Virgin says Mirjana is to save everyone by inviting everyone to know the love of her Son and to give her heart to him. We only know of these secrets that the third speaks of an unequivocal and beautiful sign of her presence that the Virgin will leave on the hill of the first apparition. The seventh instead seems to be very dramatic, but Mirjana insists that there is nothing to be afraid of. Whoever has the Lord first in their hearts has nothing to fear. Peace will come at the end, Mirjana confidently announces. In fact, the Virgin appeared in Medjugorje with the title of Queen of Peace. It is not known when everything will happen. But according to Father Livio, who dedicated a series of books to Medjugorje and who has been following the events for years with his radio (highly listened to), the events of 11 September could be the beginning of the Medjugorje affair (incidentally on the Twin Towers there were also the powerful repeaters of Radio Maria, which spread the messages of Medjugorje). Father Livio believes that the planetary danger could be represented precisely by a terrorism ready to devastate the world with weapons of mass destruction.
Moreover, one senses that in these months there is something new that weighs on the Pope's heart. For those who follow the interventions it is clear that something dark he sees on the horizon. In October 2000, concluding the great Jubilee, he renewed the consecration of the earth to the immaculate heart of Mary saying that we are at a crossroads between transforming the earth into a place of ruins or making it a garden. And in recent speeches he speaks heartily of a dark hour that has arrived.
In the light of these facts, the day of fasting and prayer for peace desired by the pope acquires a different meaning, given the fact that for twenty years the Madonna of Medjugorie has asked for exactly and only this: fasting and prayer for peace. Maria gives us the opportunity to save ourselves, explains Father Livio but it is urgent to convert.
Of course you can judge this with detachment and disbelief. However, first it is advisable to give a reading to the volume, just published, Gli occhi di Maria, where Vittorio Messori reconstructs the historical and geographical location of the apparitions of Maria from the years of the French Revolution, the great devastator of Christianity. Always, in advance or in conjunction with the most terrible events, Mary appeared to comfort Christians and warn them, but also to ward off the worst tragedies. We start with the apparitions in the Jacobin Terror years reconstructed in the book by Rino Cammilleri in particular an inexplicable phenomenon struck Napoleon himself. February 11th. The same day she first appeared in Lourdes. It is just one of the many, impressive coincidences of dates reported by Messori. And then Fatima, whose last appearance, on October 13th, with the prodigy of the rotating sun, is almost concomitant with the Bolshevik revolution. And then the appearance of Banneux in 1933, concomitant with Hitler's seizure of power. The apparitions of Kibeho, in Rwanda, where one of the most terrible genocides of the last decades could not be averted. Every time what strikes and moves is as the visionaries say - her motherly concern. Whether or not the "secrets" of Medjugorje are realized will tell us if what millions of Christians believe has really happened in that Bosnian village. You can be a Christian or not. But beyond Medjugorje, whoever is a Christian remains certain that Mary works concretely and tirelessly for the good of every human being and of all humanity. If that girl from Nazareth is "the queen of heaven and earth", it is not surprising that she has so much power over human history.