Medjugorje: what to say about the visionaries? An exorcist priest answers

Don Gabriele Amorth: What can we say about the visionaries?

It has been talked about for some time. Some fixed points.
The six cute guys from Medjugorje have grown up. They were 11 to 17 years old; now they have ten more. They were poor, unknown, persecuted by the police and looked upon with suspicion by the ecclesiastical authorities. Now things have changed a lot. The first two visionaries, Ivanka and Mirjana, got married, leaving behind some disappointments; the others are more or less talked about, except Vicka who always manages to get away with her disarming smile. In issue 84 of "Eco", René Laurentin highlighted the risks that these "boys of the Madonna" are now taking. Switched to a leading role, photographed and requested as stars, they are invited abroad, hosted in luxury hotels and covered with gifts. As poor and unknown, they see themselves in the center of attention, watched by admirers and lovers. Jakov left his office in the parish box office because a travel agency hired him on a triple salary. Is it the temptation of the easy and comfortable ways of the world, so different from the austere messages of the Virgin? It will be good to look at it clearly, distinguishing what is of general interest from personal problems.

1. From the beginning, Our Lady said that she had chosen those six boys because she wanted it so and not because they were better than the others. Appearances with public messages, if authentic, are charisms granted by God free of charge, for the good of the people of God. They do not depend on the holiness of the chosen people. Scripture tells us that God can also use ... a donkey (Numbers 22,30).

2. When Fr Tomislav guided the visionaries with a steady hand, in the early years, he was keen to say to us pilgrims: “Boys are like the others, defective and prone to sin. They resort to me with confidence and I try to guide them spiritually to the good ". Sometimes it happened that one or the other cried during the apparitions: he later confessed to having received a rebuke from the Madonna.
It would be foolish to expect them to have become saints suddenly; and it would be misleading to pretend that those children have lived for ten years in a continuous spiritual tension, which pilgrims experience in the few days they stay in Medjugorje. It is right that they have their leisures, their rests. Even more erroneous would be to expect them to enter a convent, such as S.Bernardetta. First of all, one can and must sanctify oneself in any state of life. Then everyone is free to choose The five children to whom Our Lady appeared in Beauraing (Belgium, in 1933) all got married, to the disappointment of their fellow villagers ... The life of Melania and Massimino, the two children to whom Our Lady appeared in La Salette (France, in 1846) certainly did not take place in an exciting way (Maximinus died alcoholic). The life of the visionaries is not easy.

3. Let's say that personal sanctification is an individual problem, since the Lord has given us the gift of freedom. We are all called to holiness: if it seems to us that the visionaries of Medjugorje are not holy enough, we begin to marvel at ourselves. Of course, those who have had more gifts have more responsibilities. But, we repeat, the charisms are given for others, not for the individual; and they are not a sign of achieved holiness. The Gospel tells us that thaumaturgists can also go to hell: “Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? In your name, have we not cast out demons and done many wonders? ”“ Go away from me, workers of iniquity, ”Jesus will tell them (Matthew 7, 22—23). This is a personal problem.

4. We are interested in another problem: if the visionaries were to swerve, would this affect the judgment regarding Medjugorje? It is clear that I pose the theoretical problem as a hypothesis; so far no seer has strayed. thank goodness! Well, even in this case, the judgment does not change. Future behavior does not cancel out the charismatic experiences lived in the past. The boys were studied as never before in any apparition; their sincerity was seen and it was seen that what they were experiencing during the apparitions was not scientifically explainable. All this is never canceled.

5. The apparitions have been going on for ten years. Do they all have the same value? I answer: no. Even if the ecclesiastical authorities were in favor, the problem of discernment that the authorities themselves would make on the messages would remain open. There is no doubt that the first messages, the most significant and characteristic ones, are of much greater importance than the subsequent messages. I help myself with an example. The ecclesiastical authority declared the six apparitions of the Madonna in Fatima authentic in 1917. When the Madonna appeared to Lucia in Poatevedra (1925, to ask for devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the practice of 5 Saturdays) and to Tuy (in 1929 , to ask for the consecration of Russia) the authorities have in fact accepted the contents of these apparitions, but have not pronounced them. As they have not commented on many other apparitions had by Sr. Lucia, and which certainly have a much lesser importance than those of 1917.

6. In conclusion, we must understand the risks to which the visionaries of Medjugorje are exposed. Let us pray for them, so that they know how to overcome difficulties and always have safe driving; when it was taken away from them, they got the impression that they were a little confused. We do not demand the impossible from them; preteadiarno that they become saints, but not according to the patterns of our brain. And remember that holiness we must first of all expect from ourselves.

Source: Don Gabriele Amorth

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