Father Finelli's Medugorje Page

On June 24 & 25, we will celebrate the 39th anniversary of our Lady’s apparitions to the children of Medugorje. Even in the early years, some people claimed that our Lady would never appear so long. “It is unprecedented in the history of apparition.”

So why has our Lady continued to appear every day for 39 years? I don’t think the answer is an easy one. But there are many things we can point to that suggest her reasons. The first reason our Lady is still appearing at Medugorje is that so many people have been exposed to her messages, yet, so few are living them.

Even if we leave fasting aside, all of the other messages seem to be ignored by many. So, let’s go over the core of the Medugorje message.

1. Convert – it seems that the world is much further away from God than when our Lady began appearing in 1981. Everything is upside down. People have rejected the morals of the Gospel and accepted everything that is contrary.
2. Faith – People say they believe, but our churches are emptying by the day. It is like a massive hemorrhage that is unstoppable. Not only do people not go to church, they live as if there were no God, no heaven, and no hell.
3. Prayer – With the decrease in faith, prayer diminishes also. Although most people are searching for supernatural, they look in the wrong places. The practice of the faith has waned, practice of the occult has grown exponentially. It is a reversal of order. When we take God out of the picture, the devil and his minions rush right in.
4. Fasting – We are now at the hight of consumerism. It is impossible to fast when one is so focused on self and ones personal needs/ desires. “Me first.” How can one fast when we run to every self-gratification possible. We have filled our lives with things in place of God.
5. Peace – Just turn on the news. We have a few generations that have been raised without God. And when you don’t have God in your life, there will never be peace. Because true peace comes from God alone. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.” Jn 14:27
6. Reconciliation – There is no forgiveness, only retaliation. Our whole society is on the brink of chaos. The whole world is at unrest because there is no reconciliation. But that reconciliation begins with one self. First I must be reconciled with God. I have to leave behind my sins through repentance and the Sacrament of Penance. After that, and only after that am I ready to be reconciled with my brother. But if I don’t repent, and I don’t see my sins, how will I ever forgive “those who trespass against us.” I am only worried about me.

All of our Lady’s messages work together. They are like bricks in a foundation. You can’t leave one out or there is a hole, and eventually the weak foundation falls. Our Lady continually asks us to go to confession frequently. She once said that if all Catholics go to confession monthly, the world would be healed. On this 39th anniversary of our Lady’s apparitions, why don’t we all giver her a gift? Go to confession and not only look for the latest message with curiosity, but live them. As St. Francis of Assisi said: “Let us begin, brothers, to serve the Lord God, for up until now we have done little or nothing.”

Dear children! May this time be an incentive for  personal conversion for you. Pray,  little children, in solitude,  to the Holy  Spirit to strengthen you in faith and  trust in  God,  that you  may be worthy  witnesses of the  love which God  bestows upon you through my presence. Little  children,  do not  permit trials to  harden your  heart and for prayer to  be like a desert.  Be a reflection of God’s love and witness the Risen Jesus by  your  lives.I am with  you  and  I love all of you  with  my motherly  love. Thank you for having responded to my call.

There is a story over at SpiritDaily about the Vatican’s Medugorje report. Here is part of it:

“A leaked report from the commission that studied Medjugorje contains surprising and at points startling conclusions, if initial translations are accurate — criticizing aspects of seer conduct but presenting a far more positive picture of the apparitions than most close watchers of the situation hoped for or anticipated.

The full report was given to an Italian journalist, David Murgia, and has already been bound in book form in his native language.

Perhaps never before in the history of what it calls Mariophanies,including those of Lourdes, Fatima, and Guadalupe, have there been higher-ranking clergy on an investigative commission. Five cardinals, an archbishop, three monsignors, and four priests composed the thirteen members who studied the site in Hercegovina for what it described as four “intense” years. In addition were three priests and a nun who served as voting experts, bringing the tally to seventeen, though the number present for ballots (votum) at times varied.”

Read the whole story here.

Dear children! Today I am calling you to pray even more, until you feel the holiness of forgiveness in your heart. There must be holiness in the families, little children, because there is no future for the world without love and holiness – because in holiness and joy, you give yourselves to God the Creator who loves you with immeasurable love. This is why He sends me to you. Thank you for having responded to my call.

• Updated: I mistakenly had it listed as 2019.

At the last daily apparition to Jakov Colo on September 12th, 1998, Our Lady told him that henceforth he would have one apparition a year, every December 25th, on Christmas Day. This is also how it was this year. The apparition began at 2:25 pm and lasted 9 minutes.

Our Lady came with little Jesus in her arms. Through Jakov, Our Lady gave the following message:

Dear children, today, on this day of grace, in a special way I am calling you to open your hearts and to implore Jesus to strengthen your faith. Children, through prayer with the heart, faith and works you will come to know what it means to live a sincere Christian life. Often times, children, darkness, pain and crosses overwhelm your life and your hearts. Do not waver in faith and ask ‘why’ because you think that you are alone and abandoned. Instead, open your hearts, pray and believe firmly and then your heart will feel God’s nearness and that God never abandons you – that He is beside you at every moment. Through prayer and faith, God will answer your every ‘why’ and transform your every pain, darkness and cross into light. Thank you.