Saturday, July 28, 2012

Father Mitch Pacwa: Lack of any Spiritual Depth to the Messages May be the Unraveling of Medjugorje

By GREG GARRISON - Religion News Service

[Father Mitch] Pacwa said there is no chance for the visions to get approval while they're still going on, and it's a long shot even after they stop.

One quirk that emerged was when two of the Medjugorje visionaries said the Virgin Mary endorsed a book, "The Poem of the Man-God," that had been condemned by the Vatican. The fanciful 1940s biography of Jesus by Maria Valtorta contains details like a dancing girl brushing up against Jesus, Joseph giving young Jesus an anachronistic tool kit with screwdrivers and the Virgin Mary making statements such as "man disgusts me," Pacwa said.

"The book had been condemned by the church in 1959 because it said a lot of silly things that contradicted what was in the gospels," Pacwa said. "The church rejected it. Any vision must be judged by revelation that exists in the gospels. You can't say anything you want."

What may be the unraveling of the Medjugorje visions is the lack of any spiritual depth to the messages, Pacwa said.

"That is a much more pointed critique," he said.

The writings of Sister Faustina, now a saint, describe visions from Jesus. "As you kept reading, a new depth of spiritual life began to show itself," Pacwa said. "You can see definite growth over the years in her spiritual messages. I don't see that with the messages of Medjugorje. They tend to be the same thing over and over again. Something I would look for is a growth in spiritual depth. I haven't sensed it."

Pacwa said Vatican theologians will take all that into account and that Medjugorje in the end may be denied church approval.

"I don't have a sense this is going to go swimmingly. I am very impressed with a number of the positive things I have experienced there. I have a lot of respect for the good things that have occurred. But I'm not going to be naive about some of the problems. It has to be dealt with, with full integrity."
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6 comments:

Keyser Soze said...

Like a lot of other people, I bought the Medjugorje thing at first, but not any more. We've had decades now of "Oh, my children, why don't you listen to me? If only you would listen to me my children, then I could..."

Listen to WHAT? The "vision" never says anything.

More converts and returns to the faith is great. The rest sure looks like a hoax.

Shelly said...

Now I really believe that the apparitions are authentic at Medjugorje. The "Poem of the Man-God" and all of Maria Valtorta's writings have been the greatest blessing in my spiritual life. If the Blessed Virgin Mary endorsed them, I'm even happier. They are not "fanciful" and I believe they have an imprimateur by a bishop.

salt and light said...

shelley,screwdrivers in a toolkit,screws only came into use over 1500 years later,the best lies contain truth -otherwise you would not believe them.pray for guidance and you will be guided by the Holy Spirit,use your bible and catechism,follow the teaching of the Church - hell will not prevail against it.It will try very hard,"but the dragon prevaileth not".I have noticed a lot of people who are quite prepared to believe in books that the vatican has condemned,it is because they cannot see the errors as they have never read the bible or the catechism.Use the tools God has given us under the protection of our church whom the Holy Spirit protects from doctrinal error.

Suzanne said...

The first mark of an authentic Catholic spirituality is obedience to legitimate authority. If the Vatican condemned The Poem of the Man of God, and the vision approved it, then the vision is fake. This is Spiritual Discernment 101.

Unknown said...

The Blessed Virgin Mary is the exemplar of obedience and teaches the faithful to do this to constituted Church authorities. She cannot be the Virgin herself who appeared to the visionaries if she teaches them to disobey the Church authorities especially the bishop-in-charge of that jurisdiction. If at all there was an apparition, it is hardly the Virgin herself who appeared.

Unknown said...

AGREED 100%