Our Lady of Medjugorje Points us to Jesus

Ever since I first heard about Medjugorje, I looked on the apparition with deep suspicion.  The Blessed Mother appearing since 1981? At a specific time? Highly unlikely. Though I believe in apparitions (not all of them), I wondered if this wasn't coming from the enemy.  It almost sounded as if Mary, Mother of God, was appearing at the beck and call of alleged visionaries, something that seemed contrary to her position and her dignity. I thought good people were being fooled.

Then I was reading a book on Our Lady of Kibeho. Mary appeared in Rwanda Medjugorje: The Message by Wayne Weible--a Lutheran.
(and predicted the massacre 10 years ahead of schedule) describing the rivers of blood. She appeared at set times--set by her. She also set the times of her appearances at Lourdes and Fatima. If SHE called the shots, that was a different story, so at the urging of a friend, I looked into

Rwanda genocide

In his book, he quoted excerpts from The Apparitions of Our Lady at Medjugorgi, by Svetozar Kraljevic, O.F.M.  In that book, Father Vlasic interviews some of the visionaries, and their messages seemed sound, because as always, His Mother pointed at Jesus.  The enemy wouldn't do that.

Her principle message is "Peace, conversion, fasting, penance, prayer. The most important is peace."

Not that prayer isn't important. If fact, she repeatedly says, "Pray, pray, pray." 

She stressed a point that Catholics are aware of, though we are often misunderstood because we ask for His Mother's intercession.  "Pray to Jesus. I am His mother and I intercede for you with Him. But all prayer goes to Jesus." 

She again stressed that there is only one intercessor between us and the Father, and that is Jesus. When we ask for Mary's intercession, we are asking her to be the intercessor between us and Jesus, not the Father. And we ask this as an act of humility. She is the Queen Mother, and as in the times of the Old Testament, we peasants bring our requests to her and she sets them before the King. Everything Mary gets she gives to Jesus.

One visionary pointed out that the Madonna doesn't act separately from God. She does God's will.  When they asked her for a sign, she went to Jesus for the sign, and once He said yes, then she was able to offer the sign.  This is what Mary has always done. God's will. 

A few other notable messages (so far in my reading) are:

- The greatest danger to the world is through godlessness. This explains the rise in Atheism, a relatively new phenomenon.

- People who are in Hell raged against God in life and continue to rage against Him after death. They refuse to pray to God and, in effect, become one with Hell. This explains the rage behind many who are pro-abortion and anti-marriage. 

- The devil is most active through people of weak character who are divided within themselves. But he also enters the lives of strong believers, as he would rather "convert"real believers than non-believers.  This explains the Catholic priest scandal--both the actions of the priests themselves and the response by those in the Church who were more interested in the institution than the people.

Her messages can be a bit frightening, but they also offer hope. We always have a way out from under the enemy, and that is to hold onto Jesus Christ as tightly as we can. That's why they call it the Good News!