Mary says we must believe Medjugorje to be "accepted."

We know as Catholics that private revelation does indeed happen. It happened to St. Francis when he received the stigmata, to St. Bernadette, to St. Juan Diego and to Sr. Lucia of Fatima. However, such revelations are very rare and are not the norm for the Catholic believer. As Msgr. Peric of Mostar points out, "One must also recall that apparitions are always something "extraordinary", rare, and this is an important element for their discernment. If apparitions were to occur on a daily basis in the life of a believer, or if they were to continue for years, this would obviously create serious problems for the theology of faith."

Besides their rarity, we know that private revelations command no obedience on the part of the faithful. Neither does the fact that the Church has approved an apparition mean that we must believe it; it only means that the revelation contains nothing harmful to faith or morals. Catholics are perfectly free to reject the messages of Lourdes, Fatima, Guadalupe and others and still be good Catholics. A sure sign of a true private revelation is that it does not insist that others believe it and a true visionary never gets impatient when others do not believe their message. Rather, they wait for God to decide all things and offer up their trials as penance.

Now, let's look at this message from Mirjana on March 18, 1996 (at this point she was only receiving one "message" per year on her birthday). In this message, Mary tells us:

Do not reject from yourself the name of God, that you may not be rejected.

Accept my messages that you may be accepted. Decide, my children, it is the time

of decision. Be of just and innocent heart that I may lead you to your Father,

for this that I am here, is his great love. Thank you for being here!

"Accept my messages that you may be accepted?" I don't know, but this sounds an awful lot like Mary is insinuating that one must believe in the Medjugorje messages in order to be "accepted", whatever that means. It seems to imply accepted by God (ie, saved) because in the previous sentence she supposedly says "Do not reject from yourself the name of God, that you may not be rejected." Rejection by God certainly means damnation; what else can it mean? Here Mary is saying that we must accept her messages if we want to be accepted. This is a pretty bold demand! Especially since on September 4th, 1982 Mary said, "Jesus prefers that you address yourselves directly to Him rather than through an intermediary." So if we need no intermediary, how can Mary say we need to accept her messages in order to be "accepted"?

Furthermore, a true visionary does not get impatient when they are faced with trials and tribulations; they see these as the working out of God's will in their lives and trust in Him to plan all things according to His purpose. Yet on October 20th, 1981, Vicka asks Gospa: "Dear Gospa, have mercy on Fr. Jozo tomorrow during the trial. Paralyze someone; strike someone on the head. I know it is a sin to speak so, but what can we do?" Here we have Vicka asking Mary something that she admits is sinful. Does she repent? No! She pretty much says, "But what can we do?" Did any of the saints ever ask God for anything about which they said "I know it is a sin to speak so"? Did Bernadette ask Mary to "paralyze" the prosecutor of Lourdes? Of course not! These should be signs to anyone who cares to judge the evidence that these apparitions cannot be true.

It is not my intent to be "uncharitable" in pointing this out; I am merely stating what should be a red flag to any lover of authentic Catholic Tradition. There is nothing uncharitable about testing all things and holding to what it good (1 Thess. 5:21).

I remind you all that you can read all of the messages for yourself at this website, run by the pro-Medjugorje Fr. Laurentin.