Easter blessings in Litmanova

Tomorrow I leave for the little mountain village of Litmanova in Slovakia on the Polish border, site of the 1990-95 Marian apparitions to two village girls. A very peaceful, quiet place without tourists or fanfare - or souvenir stands or Italian style bistro's. In fact, there isn't a single restaurant in the entire village, though there are several small pensions and one small village store.

I've always loved this minor, little known apparition because the Blessed Lady in white came down from her heavenly cloud, walked across the small storeroom where she had appeared to the two shocked young girls of 12 and sat down on a little wooden bench and spoke with them. The bench is still there, covered in plastic, and pilgrims can kiss it. The utter simplicity of the place is so beautiful, and the peace is lasting and profound. There is even a sacred spring with crystal clear water. I've been here a number of times and became friends with the local Greek Orthodox priest who administers the site, a kindly, good man without complications or pretensions. I even contributed the English translation to the official site, which interested readers can access here: Litmanova-Zvir and here at The Byzantine Forum.  No fanaticism here at Litmanova, only simple faith in 'the Lady,' and pious devotion of the old school. Remarkable and inspiring.

In preparation for this triduum of Easter at Litmanova, I started reading Matthew Fox's most recent book, Letters to Pope Francis. It is a book imbued with hope and the promise of a new dawn, as Fox was responding - as we all were - to Pope Francis's warmly human, humble and accessible side in those early days of the springtime of his papacy. The book is well worth reading for its deep, prophetic insights into the possibility of a new Christianity and it offers healing for any of Fox's readers who also read his searing indictment of the Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI years, the powerful, brilliant, indispensable, The Pope's War. 

Sadly, we have all learned since the early days of Francis' tenure as Pope that hope does not reside in the figure of a Pope or in the institution itself. Matthew Fox's dissillusion with Pope Francis, which is profound,  has been most eloquently expressed in his articles on the canonization of Junipero Serra, which can be accessed here at his blog: Matthew Fox. 

It is sad that a reforming pope who has actively sought the perspectives of the faithful would be so blind to the history of indigenous peoples on two continents, and deaf to the protests of indigenous and non-indigenous Christians alike.  And it is sad that, as many nations and peoples await Pope Francis’ encyclical on Eco-theology and Climate Change, he would follow his predecessors’ example in favoring the perpetrators of colonization and genocide over the indigenous peoples of this hemisphere and their living legacy of respect for nature…a legacy that is vital to the survival of the life on Earth as we know it today.

This is a severe blow to the hopes of people looking to a reformed papacy. Granted, Pope Francis is only human like the rest of us and humans err—as he says, he himself is a sinner.  And this decision is a grave sin indeed.

Powerful words for this Easter as we prepare to celebrate the Paschal Mystery of the Crucified and Risen One and as all of us connected to the Resurrected Savior await a new dawn. 

But to end these random thoughts on a note of rebirth, here is a beautiful image sent me by a student today, witnessing to the profound interconnectedness of life and all living things, bound by compassion:

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Our Lady of Fatima and Pope Francis

Today is the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima, commemorating the first apparition of the Blessed Lady in White to three peasant children in Fatima, Portugal 96 years ago. In four more years, it will be the 100th anniversary of the apparitions. Despite the psycho-babble over the years which has attempted to explain the whole phenomenon in terms of psychological repression and projection on the part of the eldest child, Lucy dos Santos, there is something deeply moving about this whole story - inexplicable, mysterious, holy. The story of the children's lives is one of suffering, trials and contradictions, endless contradictions, which one wouldn't wish on any child. 

Pope Francis received the original Fatima stature into St. Peter's Square last evening, followed by prayers and a vigil. This Sunday morning, he celebrated Mass in St Peter's Square  before a large crowd of faithful and devout "Marianists," to coin a word. It was a moving experience to witness Pope Francis' evident deep devotion to Mary in her Fatima manifestation. However, to be honest, I found it so disconcerting to witness the preponderance of male clerics dominating the services, no women priests apparent anywhere (of course). But at this point in history, it is such a jarring vision to see, and tends to mar the ceremonies. 

Blue Eyed Ennis has some wonderful links to videos of the events at her very spiritual blog.

I am also a devotee of Fatima, despite the numerous signs of contradiction surrounding these phenomena. Every corrupt Portuguese dictator has felt compelled pro forma to sink to his knees before the same stature that so moved the Holy Father last evening. Right wring groups of every shade and persuasion have appropriated the legend for their own uses, thereby alienating more liberal Christians who shun such manifestations of religious fanaticism. And homophobia, in particular,  is rampant and virulent among Fatima devotees, to a very alarming extent. This alone should give pause to any gay Christians. Yet, I continue to discern  Our Blessed Mother's true presence here, calling all of us, across all ideological lines, to a life of penance, prayer and sacrifice. And I believe she calls persons of my own orientation and persuasion precisely to make the point that her apparitions are not to be appropriated by any extremist faction, however loudly they proclaim their ownership.  Fatima is holy and sacred, the children reached heights of  loving sacrifice that were astonishing, and Sister Lucy lived to nearly 90, both blind and deaf before her passing in 'the odor of sanctity'. There is a mystery here that defies explanation, whatever the human element may be. 

The apparitions of Garabandal, Spain (remember those) in the 1960's have been long eclipsed by its more flamboyant and famous younger sister, Medjugorje in Bosnia. Yet Garabandal has been linked to Fatima, and some are predicting that the long awaited consummation of Garabandal will take place in 2017, on the 100th anniversary of Fatima. I was profoundly moved by the Garabandal story while in the Sacred Heart Jesuit Novitiate in Los Gatos , California. I  have remained among the small, loyal remnant who - 48 years later - are still waiting for Garabandal's moment to arrive. One of the original visionaries has passed on, one has 'defected' and denied the apparitions, The two other visionaries, now in their sixties, remain faithful and patient, living ordinary married lives, with children and grandchildren. Like Fatima and Medjugorje, the call is the same, prayer, prayer and more prayer, penance, sacrifice and prayer, and great devotion to the Holy Eucharist. There is little that is controversial or partisan about the messages of these appearances. Yet it remains a mystery why 'the conservative right' rushes to own them with disconcerting noise and fanfare, while the more liberal part of the church finds the whole phenomenon distasteful. That is a generalization, of course, but fairly accurate on the whole. I remain one of the strange exceptions, but while we are few, we are not alone. Two summers ago, during the 30th anniversary of the apparitions at Medjugorje (another shrine surrounded by contradictions), I sat next to two very progressive nuns from a liberated order. Their habits consisted of long skirts with a beautiful, colorful weave, white flowing silken long sleeved blouses, simple wooden crosses around their necks, no head coverings, and long, flowing grey hair, gracefully coifed down their backs. Their very appearance bespoke dedicated spiritual women, who valued their own feminine natures and beauty and were in no way espousing the traditional ascetic image of self denial of most religious sisters. We got into a conversation, I told them I was a gay Catholic living on the edge, and they responded simply and warmly. One of them told me with deep sympathy about the gay issue, "The Church does change, slowly, very slowly, but change does come." She gave me such a warm, understanding smile. Gracious, intelligent, liberated, progressive - and here they were honoring Our Lady at the shrine of Medjugorje in Bosnia Herzogovina. Mary is calling many of us of a similar outlook and orientation to journey to her shrines, to honor her, to receive her call and her graces, and to witness to others that such a call is not in contradiction to our own most cherished values and principles. Mary is for all, and the call to prayer, penance and sacrifice can be embraced by all of us from one end of the spectrum to the other in this sacred family called church. Let us not let one end of the spectrum so dominate the conversation that the simple grace and beauty of Mary's call becomes confused with the cacophony of human ego. 

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Back from Bosnia: Marian Apparitions in Kihebo, Rawanda

I've just returned from a summer retreat in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, with five peaceful days spent in the Marian shrine of Medjugorje. Each time I visit this town, I am stunned into silence by the profound and extraordinary peace that pervades the place, a peace so profound and so penetrating that it silences all doubts. An energy this holy cannot be based upon a lie. Still, I spent some time reviewing the many criticisms and accusations about the alleged apparitions still taking place here, and there are signs of contradiction and causes of concern, intermixed with lies and slanders and deliberate obfuscations. Clearly the Blessed Mother, if she is indeed appearing here (as I truly believe) has decided not to make it easy for anyone to reach a judgement about the place - not without considerable prayer and discernment. Which is why I'm with Cardinal Schonborn on this one. If you haven't been here yourself and you haven't subjected the Shrine to your own personal prayerful, interior discernment, then no amount of rational analysis of the pros and cons will do you any good. This is the classic kind of case spoken of by St. Ignatius in The Spiritual Exercises. When you are faced with an issue or a problem in which the negative and the positive seem to be weighed almost equally, then you must resort to a careful discernment of spirits, and ask you self when considering the negative and the positive, which gives you the greater peace. Always go with the peace was the advice given by this great 16th century saint. And the peace of Medjugorje is simply too overwhelming to ignore, it pours into the atmosphere from such a profound source of sacredness and imbues the air with grace and holiness.

Nonetheless,  the town itself has become 'honky tonk city' at night, with wild young men roaring about on giant motorcycles, teenage boys zipping by on the sidewalks on their bicycles with no thought to the pedestrians (I was almost run over by two of them who seemed delighted by my alarm), pubs and bars (a few) bustling with patronage, and everyone eating and drinking, chatting and shopping and having a merry time. As I've said before on this blog, it feels very much like a beach resort in Thailand, without the go go bars and prostitutes. I did stop for a beer in the one semi-night club in town, right at the end of the main road leading to the Church. Rock music videos were blaring from the giant LCD screen, the beat of the music thumping and blaring from the giant speakers. However, during the course of half an hour, I noticed that all of the music videos had been carefully selected for their 'appropriate content,' insuring that the usual sexual images of most music videos were screened out. Making such a selection must have been a daunting task. Yet despite the beat and the beers, and the giant Harleys parked on the curb outside, and the burly, tattooed men at the bar, the club seemed quaintly and charmingly innocent.  Someone had clearly intended it as a fun place to be at night for tourists, without in anyway offending the religious tone of the shrine. I was rather amused, actually, and thought it quite wholesome. How many husbands or sons are dragged to Medjugorje by devout wives and mothers and in need of a little harmless but raunchy release (most of the customers in the club were men).

The tackiness and commercialism of the main street seem to be a necessary prop to the shrine, because one can't but be shocked by the contrast of the bustling commerce going on right outside the sanctuary and the extraordinary radiance of holiness that hits you like a primal force once you step into the sanctuary grounds. It's as if an invisible but palpable spiritual wall protects the sanctuary from the worldliness of the street. I've been to many shrines and holy places in my 68 years, among them Assisi, Jerusalem, Fatima and Lourdes, the sacred temples and mountains of Thailand, but I have never experienced anything like the holiness and peace of Medjugorje.

This same 'effect' is also palpable on Apparition Hill. Once you step off the tiny lane crammed with souvenir shops right up to the very edge of the path of ascent, you are immersed in a sea of tranquility and sacredness that I can only compare feebly to the rush of humidity that hits you when you step off the plane in Bangkok, Thailand. It is that strong a force.

On this visit, I managed for the first time to ascend the second holy mountain in the area, Krizevac Mountain (Holy Cross), an arduous ascent made difficult by the numerous stones placed in the pathway to provide a walkway of penance to pilgrims who make the very moving stations of the cross. I started the ascent at 9 in the morning, before the heat of the day and by 10 I was sweating like a pig. I took refuge in some shade and sat on a rock to drink some water, with my cane resting on my knee. As I was sitting there, four very formidable Italian 'peasant' women (for so they appeared to me) came walking down the rock strewn pathway without any canes and with no hesitation. They were all in their 60's at least, skipping from rock to rock like mountain goats with no hesitation and no sign of strain, and not a drop of sweat, as if to say, "Look at us, you sissies. You call this a penance? Piece of cake."

After a few more minutes I reached the summit and approached the giant white concrete Cross at the top. These crosses are found all throughout BosniaCroatia and instill misgivings in those of us who know the history of violent, intolerant Croatian Catholic nationalism and the forced conversion campaigns in the 40's. These horrendous assaults on conscience, approved by both the Vatican and Cardinal Stepanic (though he timidly distanced himself from some of the more extreme manifestations, without condemning the campaigns themselves) resulted in hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Serbs forced to profess allegiance to the Catholic Church and hundreds of thousands more executed in the most brutal fashion - frequently at the hands of Franciscan priests and nuns. These giant crosses do not give off a very holy resonance, in fact they gave me a chill. There is one looming over the tragic town of Mostar some thirty miles away, scene of some of the most violent clashes between Christians and Muslims during the Yugoslav Wars. This is a city almost evenly divided between Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox Serbs. What must the Muslims and Serbs think of this symbol of Catholic triumphalism dominating the skyline of their war torn city? There is another equally dominant Cross on the mountain top overlooking the city of Dubrovnik, the jewel of the Adriatic. 

Yet the ascent of Mt. Krizevac felt holy and profound to me, as I meditated at each station of the cross on the horrors of religious violence during the Yugoslav wars. What more fitting subject of meditation could there be in this place? After all, Our Lady first appeared here as "Queen of Peace," and early in the apparitions  she was seen by the children weeping on the hillside and crying out, "Peace, peace." The panoramic views of the surrounding plains and valley were also deeply moving, but I can't say I experienced the same peace that was so evident in the santuary down in the valley below and on Apparition Hill.

Thankfully, a Bosnian man was sitting under a tree at the summit with several ice coolers filled with water, fruit drinks and sodas. I went up to speak with him, but his English was limited. But I was struck by his air of humility and gentleness. The average price of a small bottle of water in the shops was 1 euro, and he was charging only 1.50 for providing this service on top of a very high mountain which lacks any road of ascent. This means he must carry the bottles and the ice upon his back every early morning up an ascent that takes an ordinary person with canes over one hour! The thought is simply staggering. How and why does he do it and why doesn't he charge more? I tried to ask him these questions, suggesting that 2 euros would be considered a very fair price for providing such a necessity at the top of Holy Cross mountain. (There have been numerous stories of heat stroke among the pilgrims, particularly the elderly, in attempting the ascent.) No, no, he said, "For the Madonna, for the Madonna." Now that is penance and sacrifice borne out of love, which makes my own sweaty ascent look like a skip in the park.  He also had a very simple souvenir stand next to his ice chests. I bought a beautiful stone cross from him made from the rocks of Medjugorje - for five euros. And then I began the descent, chastened, humbled, moved.

The owner of the pensione where I stayed, Ana, spoke to me with a sad shake of her head about the profusion of hotels and luxury resorts still being built around Medjugorje, most of it "foreign money". Clearly this has put a strain on her business.  She also spoke of the clan violence which racked the community in the early 90's, when tourist numbers began dwindling and two rival clans fought for control of the tourist trade, resulting in several dozen deaths. At least those were Ana's numbers. When one reads the articles on the subject, particularly from Medjugorje critics, the numbers are put into the hundreds. Not so, said, Ana, only several dozen (which seems horrible enough) and perhaps she has a reason for minimizing the scandal, but she seemed quite certain. Ana charges 20 euros a night for a single room with en suite bathroom, and another 18 euros for full board. She is hardly getting rich off the hostel, which consumes all her time. Clearly another example of service to the Madonna.

I've avoided any comment upon the many wonderful rich graces I received on this trip, but there was one 'revelation' that was providential. Before arriving I had purchased for my kindle reader a copy of Immaculee Ilibagiza's very moving book, Our Lady of Kibeho. The book recounts the now Vatican approved apparitions of the Blessed Mother to three school girls in Rawanda in 1981, the same year the apparitions began in Medugorje. The Kibeho apparitions prophesied in the most graphic manner the horrors of the genocide which would overtake Rawanda fourteen years later. The parallels with Medjugorje are striking, the same Madonna weeping at the horrors about to overtake each community, but I will save my reflections and comparisons for a subsequent post.

I will end with a note of heartfelt gratitude to the Mother of the Lord for having led me once again to the Bosnian shrine of Medjugorje, which has been the source of so many graces and healings in my own life. May I be worthy of such graces and may Mary show me the way I may best serve her in return. 

Hail Mary Full of Grace

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MARIAN APPARITIONS IN LITMANOVA, SLOVAKIA

(Update: I'm not sure why the original photos included with this post are no longer visible. Perhaps they have disappeared from the original site? But I have 'deleted' the remnants of them, to remove the distracting exclamation points!)

Through a mysterious chain of coincidences, prompted first by an email from a friend and unraveling over the past 24 hours, I am now on my way to Slovakia and the sight of the 1990-95 Marian apparitions in the hillside village of Litmanova on the Polish Border. One of the minor, lesser known Marian shrines in the world, I know not what to expect but it feels like a grace.  Clearly I am being led, since this whole adventure unfolded so rapidly with an unexpected invitation this morning from one of my young Czech friends, whose parents live in the area, and whose grandmother was a frequent visitor to the site.

A report to follow.

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CARDINAL SCHONBORN ON MEDUGORJE

 I am still reflecting on my recent retreat in Medugorje and hope to post further comments at a later time. One of the facts that recently came to my attention is the role of the Old Catholic Church in the area, a role that has both disturbed and outraged the local ordinary, Bishop Ratko Peric, who refers to the OCC as a "schismatic sect." Apparently some breakaway parishes in the area together with defrocked Franciscan priests are attempting to link up with the Old Catholic Church, inviting their bishop to perform confirmations. I can certainly understand how this would be seen by traditional, faithful Catholics as a countersign of 'disunity,' but since I have great regard for the OCC as an alternative and very spiritual witness to a different way of being 'Catholic,' my own view is more open-minded. I'm definitely intrigued by these developments. At this point in history, and this is only my marginalized view, we are going to witness far more of these breakaway, spirit-filled alternative communities, living authentic Catholic lives on the margins outside the formal control of the institutional Roman Church. Splintering and fragmentation, chaos and disunity? Perhaps, but my own faith tells me these are the signs of the times, the dividing walls are  dissolving, and tribal distinctions in religion are no longer necessary or important. Genuinely sincere spiritual seekers are being moved to form alternative communities of Catholic belief, while other equally sincere believers are being given the strength and charism to remain within the larger tent and struggle for reform from within. There seems to be both a place and a dire need for both alternatives. The Old Catholic Church in Bosnia Herzegovina, where Medugorje is located, has already gone on record acknowledging its belief - not in the authenticity of the original visions - but in the simple fact that 'Our Lady' is at work in Medugorje in a powerful, spiritual way. Whether or not one can accept the authenticity of the original, charismatic experience - which is still ongoing - it seems hard to deny the extraordinary spiritual fruits of this very holy place. To make my point, here is a beautiful reflection from Cardinal Schonborn, explaining how he made the decision to come to Medugorje last December. The statement is remarkable, not only for the Cardinal's views on the whole phenomenon, but for what it reveals about the deeply spiritual, fair-minded, and balanced character of this very unique prelate in the Roman Catholic Church. The future pope? One can only hope and pray.

I cannot explain exactly how this happened. I have known about Medugorje for many years, not personally because I have not been here before, but I have experienced the fruits of Medugorje in our diocese and even further. I always used to say what Jesus has said in the Gospels, “You will recognize the tree by its fruits.” When I see the fruits of Medugorje back home, I can only say that the tree is surely good. I will just mention two little examples.

At the Security Check point at Vienna airport, one of the guards recognized me, looked at my ticket and asked me if I was flying to Zagreb. I confirmed this and added that from Zagreb I was going to Split and then to Medugorje. His face immediately changed and he said, “I was in Medugorje before!” And with much excitement he began to talk about his experience of climbing Holy Cross Mountain and the spiritual atmosphere he experienced there. A security check point guard talks about Medugorje! Another example, early in the morning I was standing at the local train station. The manager of the station recognized me and we started talking and he confided in me the deep pain and loss he felt when his wife died of cancer. But he immediately added that his friends took him to Medugorje and that strengthened his faith even more. His face reflected such joy.

Those are just two little examples among many, many experiences I have had about Medugorje. I will just repeat what I once said in one interview: if there was something wrong about Medugorje, we would have to dismiss half of our seminarians, since so many of our priestly vocations are both directly and indirectly related to Medugorje.

How, then, did it happen that I decided to come to Medugorje? I always used to hesitate, and being a Cardinal, I am a very exposed person in the Catholic Church. Since there are many controversies, I did not want to start additional discussions and in my opinion, Medugorje is already well known. But this summer I visited the community of Cenacolo in Saluzzo. I have known Sister Elvira for the last couple of years, I love her and respect her as an extraordinary witness of the  Risen Lord and I am aware of the deep relationship the community of Cenacolo has with Medugorje. In Saluzzo, I was able to experience a very strong feeling of interior security: my time to go to Medugorje had arrived! I would say that it was a kind of interior encouragement. I expressed a desire that my visit remain confidential. I simply wanted to spend time in silence and prayer. I did not want to hide my intention to come, but also I did not want that to be the main subject of discussions. I just wanted to come to the place where Our Lady gives so many abundant graces. Besides that, the visionary Ivan Dragicevic was in Vienna last year and I spoke with him, and with Marija Pavlovic Lunetti this year, they were both in the Cathedral of St. Stephen and I gave my permission for those events. Both of those encounters have impressed me so much, primarily because of the modesty, simplicity, clarity and warm heartedness of those two visionaries. That only strengthened my decision to quietly and simply come to Medjugorje.

Read the Cardinal's full statement (in very rough translation) here. 


Here is a video of the youngest visionary,  Jakov Colo, receiving his annual apparition on Christmas day in Medugorje this last December, four days before the arrival of Cardinal Schonborn.

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REPORT FROM MEDJUGORJE

I have just returned from a pilgrimage/retreat to Medjugorje, but at the risk of seeming melodramatic, I'm still a little too overcome by the power of the experience to be able to reflect and write about it adequately.  I hope to do this at a later time, so these are just preliminary notes and reactions. of a rambling nature.

As a summary of the experience, I would have to say that not since my earliest childhood have I felt so profoundly and unconditionally loved by a maternal divine presence, a love that penetrates to the most intimate recesses of one's being. I was taken into a place of such profound peace, and was sustained by this peace for the full four days of my visit. There were 'messages' that were relevant to my own personal spiritual life, but the peace 'surpassed all understanding.' Medjugorje, above all, is a place of profound peace. There is the usual commercial aspect of the place as a major pilgrimage site, but I was not a bit offended by the numerous souvenir shops around the town center, they seemed appropriate (though their numbers seemed excessive). It was only on the pathway up to 'Apparition Hill" that the souvenir shops seemed quite offensive and out of place.  Likewise with the many guest houses, pensiones and hotels about the place, they simply give the whole town a festive, holiday air, very much like a beach resort in Thailand. Prices were far above (or below) being simply reasonable. My own family-run pensione in the countryside outside the town center charged me 20 euros a night for a double room with ensuite bathroom. Dinner was 9 euros and included a double portion of soup, home made bread, a huge salad with fresh ingredients from the family's garden, a main plate of chicken, potatoes, cucumbers that was large enough to feed three truck drivers, a generous plate of fruit and a half litre carafe of wine from the family's own vineyard. For 9 euros! This beautiful Croatian family offers rooms in their home as a service to pilgrims, not as a money making operation. So no one is really making any fortune off of the pilgrims, that I can see. Pensiones closer to the town center were charging 40 euros a night for room with bath, which is still more than reasonable. A meal in one of the fancier open air pizzerias right across from the church grounds cost me ten euros for soup, pasta, side salad, two cokes, cup of gelatto and espresso. 10 Euros, and it doesn't get more expensive than that. A week later I was dining in a simple pizzeria in Milan's Galleria and the same meal cost me 50 Euros! Is any of this relevant to the spiritual significance of the place? Indeed it is, because a lot of rather vicious gossip has been spread about the 'money making machine' of Medjugorje. I certainly saw no evidence of this, quite the contrary, though the Franciscans are undoubtedly receiving large and generous donations.  Medjugorje is also set in a spectacular location of astonishing beauty, lush green farm lands surrounded by blue misted mountains in the distance. It makes for a wonderful holiday retreat and at such prices.

Once one crosses the threshold of the sanctuary proper, however, it is as if an impregnable wall has been erected that keeps out all of the commercialism and carnival atmosphere. The sanctuary is a place of prayer and within the church I was carried into such a place of deep interior peace I felt I was back in my aunt Helen's kitchen ( she raised me until the age of 4) and could smell the peanut butter cookies she always baked for me.  It was so hard for me to leave the church, especially on the final day. Something within me wanted to linger within that profound spiritual security and peace. What about the crazies? Yes, some individuals have that special gleam in their eye and numerous persons wear rosary beads around their necks. But they seemed to be in the minority to me, with the majority of pilgrims looking like quite ordinary folk hungering for spiritual sustenance, which is so hard to find elsewhere in the contemporary church. No wonder they are coming in the millions to this very special place.  Thankfully, I didn't run into any hard core conservative cases, using the shrine as a weapon to bolster up their own traditional viewpoints. Undoubtedly such persons exist but it was my good fortune not to run into any.  I did run into two delightful ladies with rosary beads draped around their necks, Martine from France and Esther from the USA. They had that special gleam in their eye and seemed to be enjoying the wacky role they were playing, but they were such great fun to be around and were clearly equipped with the ability to critique their own daffy religiosity with some healthy self awareness. I enjoyed them immensely. They showered blessings on me when we parted, literally....extending their hands and arms and waving spiritual energy my way and laughing and smiling at the same time. A real treat and they both made me feel genuinely blessed. I also met a pair of Lesbian ladies when leaving, Kathy and Janet, waiting for the bus that would take them all the way back to Munich. They were on their way to a teaching gig in Saudi Arabia of all places and said they came here to receive some spiritual fortitude for the ordeal that lay ahead of them. I should say so. Lesbians in Saudi Arabia? I shudder to think. They had a wonderfully dry sense of humor and wanted to know if I would come back to Medjugorje. When I said, oh yes, with pious unction and tears in my eyes, they grunted their approval.

The messages of Medjugorje certainly have a 'radical' tolerance and openness about them, the Blessed Mother of the visions remarking that all religions are the 'same' in God's eyes in so far as they lead us to reverence and respect the divine. This has outraged some conservative Catholic groups who fulminate against the site on their blogs, calling it all an 'invention of diabolic inspiration.' One could see why they would be miffed. One of the visionaries, when asked what she had learned from the experience, said she had learned that "Mary is our mother, Jesus is our brother and companion on the way, and God is our loving father." Simple statement, to be sure, but a striking example of "Christology from below," with no exalted claims made for the Divine Master from Nazareth that would imply a superiority of Christianity over other faiths. As with the apparitions in Spain at Garabandal, the messages also contain a somber warning of future suffering, trials and contradictions. For anyone disturbed by this dimension, I would ask them to revisit the prophetic warnings of Jesus in the gospels about the destruction of Jerusalem. While scripture scholars once believed these warnings were written into the mouth of Jesus by the evangelists, based on the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the consensus of opinion has now swung the other way and the majority of scholars believe these prophecies originated with the Master himself and formed a major element in his preaching - warning of the consequences of violent hatred of the Roman occupation. The apocalyptic language used by Jesus himself is very similar to the tone and imagery of these Marian apparitions and give them a very somber dimension. I came away with the very strong conviction that the 'Blessed Mother' of Medjugorje is very serious about her call to penance, prayer, fasting and conversion. Very serious indeed. I have now adopted her requested practice of fasting on bread and water every Wednesday and Friday. Let us hope my will power holds out.

Speaking of radical openness, one of the English masses I attended in the beautiful church was celebrated by a very witty Irish priest on the feast day of Saints Peter and Paul. His entire sermon was focused on the profound betrayal of Jesus and his church committed by  both of these great apostles and that this should always soberly remind us that our leaders and the church in general were always in need of profound and radical conversion. He ended his sermon with a prayer to the Gospa (as the Lady is affectionately called here) for the continuing conversion and repentance of our church leaders. Wow! Contrary to most progressives' suspicions, Medjugorje is anything but a bastion of conservative, traditional Catholicism. There is indeed room for everybody.

These are my rambling thoughts and I've managed to skirt around the more serious, spiritual issues and the impact the visit had on my own inner sense of vocation and calling as a Christian in the Catholic tradition. The visit was a very special grace for me, affirming on so many levels. I will definitely go back. A place of great holiness and peace, and I have no doubt as to is 'supernatural' origins. Just to prove my point, I was not all surprised to hear that Cardinal Schonborn, who appears to be very much the man of the hour these days, paid a visit to Medjugorje last December,  a visit which annoyed the local bishop of Mostar considerably. Here is a quote from the Bishop's letter of complaint.

On Nov 16, 2009,the Catholic News Agency published the news story: “Cardinal Christoph Schönborn will visit Medjugorje, the small town in Bosnia-Herzegovina where six young people have allegedly been witnesses of apparitions from the Virgin Mary. But according to the Archdiocese of Vienna, the trip is 'completely private' and does not imply a statement from the cardinal on the veracity of the apparitions. It was supposed to be a completely private visit, it was not supposed to go out to the Internet,' said Fr. Johannes Fürnkranz, personal secretary to the Archbishop of Vienna.” 

4.      On December 29, 2009, Cardinal Schönborn arrived in Medjugorje. The media accompanied him the next day and on others as well. According to the news, he delivered a speech at the church of St. James the Apostle that highlighted the mercy of God the Father. In that speech, he said: “Who could put these things in motion? Who could invent them? A man? No, this is not the work of a human being.”

On December 31, 2009, journalists transmitted: “While some were expecting that the Cardinal’s visit to Medjugorje would be private, he has nevertheless surprised the locals by being very visible. He has spent time celebrating Mass at the Church of St. James the Apostle, walking up the hill where the apparitions occur with the visionary Marija Lunetti, praying in the silence of Adoration, and perhaps the most significant thing, delivering a speech at the parish church in the company of the Franciscans.”

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