Medugorie: Faith or Fiction?

"Yes. Uh-huh. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Really? Yep? Yep. Yep...Right you are! Really? Yep, Noooo! Well I never! Yep, yep."

"What did she say?"

"She said, "Buy more stuff!""

Fr Ray Blake has posted about Medjugorje last couple of days. I really don't know enough about it to comment too much. I agree with him that we should follow the official Church position on it. What does concern me is this video. The 'seer' is receiving an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Where? In her house! To all outward appearances the vision she is experiences appears authentic, with tears, devotion, as if being swept up into mystical contemplation of the beauty of the Virgin and her words, her message to her and the World.

But is it me, or is there something a little unsettling about it. Like, what's Our Lady doing popping into this woman's house! Is this not a little out of keeping with Marian behaviour? I mean, far be it for me to say, "Isn't Our Lady more into scenic and rocky positions in the countryside?"

I don't know, whether this lady is authentic or not, but if she really is experiencing visions of the Blessed Virgin then how come she hasn't put a habit on and joined an order? As far as I know, and I'll admit to not knowing a great deal about Marian apparitions, the Virgin is appearing to a few seers, nearly all lay people and almost like clockwork, regularly like a party piece or something. This is totally out of character with historical, authenticated apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I have an open mind about it, but at first hand I agree with Fr Ray's analysis that the fruits are important.

Does Medjugorje result in an abundance of devotion to the Blessed Virgin, return to piety among the Faithful and hoards of Confessions etc, or does it just result in a devotion to Medjugorje. We know that God has used many visionaries in the past, some of whom, I think were lay people. Either Our Lady is appearing at Medjugorje so intensely and so regularly because she wants the World to recognise her Son now before some Great Chastisement, or these visionaries are not mystics but deceived individuals led astray by the wicked lying wonders of the Devil. Difficult, isn't it because Our Lord talked about wonders in the sky prior to the End. Yet, I didn't think the Devil had the 'power' to move the Sun and for that to be caught on camera. Until Holy Mother Church authenticates it, it cannot be taken as authentic. All we know is, Our Lady doesn't make mistakes in who she chooses, therefore if the visionaries are unreliable then that leaves open the question of whether they were chosen by Our Lady. Confusing!!