The consequences of misleading subtleties
Let us watch this video about Mary's house in Loreto, Italy:
This video conveys two clear messages to the viewer: A family by the name of Angeli saved the bricks of the Holy House from the Muslim invasion, and Mary's cedarwood statue was timbered from the Vatican Gardens.
Misinformed Catholics are getting duped by misdirection in this video. Why? Mary's original statue, carved from cedar of Lebanon, was destroyed by a fire in 1921. The replacement statue was then fashioned from timber from the Vatican Gardens. Why is this detail relevant? Mary's house moved to a few locations before Loreto. At Tersatto (Croatia), one night in May 1291, the most glorious Virgin appeared to Bishop Alexander de Georgio, surrounded by angels, and with a benignant smile, she thus addressed him:
Be of good courage, my son ! Know that the house which has lately been brought to your land is the same in which I was born and brought up. Here, at the Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel., I conceived the Creator of all things. Here the Word of the Father became man. After my departure from this world, the Apostles consecrated and adorned it, frequently celebrating Mass there. The altar, which was brought with the house, was consecrated by Peter, Prince of the Apostles. The image of the crucifix was placed there by the same Apostles. The cedar statue is an image of myself, made by Luke the Evangelist. This house, which was therefore so dear to God, and which was held in the highest honour for so many years in Galilee, has now come from Nazareth to your shores, by the power of God, to whom nothing is impossible. And now, in order that you may bear testimony to all these things, be healed ! Your unexpected and sudden recovery shall be the proof of the truth of what I have been saying.
At these words, the gracious Mother disappeared. As you can see, omitting information trivialises sacred sites, making it more secular. Also, by only knowing the updated statue, the misinformed pilgrim may subconsciously dismiss the apparition. The video tries to rescind a miracle by opposing Pope Leo's Brief (June 1519),
The most Blessed Virgin having transferred her image and her Chamber by the Divine will from Nazareth, as has been proved by the testimony of persons who have a right to be believed; and having placed it first near the Dalmatian town of Fiume, and then in a wood in the territory of Recanati, and then on a hill in the same territory which belonged to private persons; has at last, by stationing it by the hands of Angels on the public road where it now rests, chosen Loreto for herself; and there through her merits does the Most High continually work innumerable miracles.
Souls are deceived in many other ways. It's intellectual warfare, magnified by the freedom of the internet. It would also be nice to know that the Holy House was witness to heavenly lights on September 8th (Mary's birthday), a light moved around the house at Pentecost, a demon (by exorcism) pointed to the Annunciation location inside the house, the crucifix was unmovable, and many other healing miracles.
Book: Loreto and the Holy House: Its History Drawn from Authentic Sources (1917) by Godfrey E Phillips
Loreto's Holy House's original location according to Nazareth's Annunciation Grotto in Israel.
The Medjugorje seers have shared that Mary told them, in 1984, that her birthday on earth was August 5th. But the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8th. Given that heavenly lights reappeared over the Holy House on September 8th and not on August 5th, it makes evident the false Marian apparitions at Medjugorje, agreeing with the Vatican. Visionaries of Medjugorje have also explicitly stated, on numerous occasions, that Our Lady not only permits but also encourages people to read "The Poem of the Man-God" (by Maria Valtorta), even though the Catholic Church has placed these books on the "Index of Forbidden Books" as a distorted view of Jesus' ministry. It is intellectual warfare. satan is in full force to discredit the Vatican; ignorant, full-fledged laymen Catholics are his prey. Where does August 5th come from?
The miracle, which inspired the construction of the papal Marian basilica, involved a miraculous snowfall in Rome on August 5 in the year 358. According to tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared to both a nobleman named John and to Pope Liberius (352-366) in a dream foretelling the August snow and asking for a church to be built in her honor on the site of the snowfall. The church was rebuilt by Pope Sixtus III (432-440), after the Council of Ephesus in 431 declared Mary to be the Mother of God.
Mary never said August 5th was her birthday then. This forum said about Medjugorje,
The Chris Curtis as well as Gianna Sullivan Talone are just two of the now hundreds of new 'seers' and 'visionaries' who have returned from a visit to Medjugorje and started having their own 'visions' and 'locutions.' It is an unprecedented phenomena. The problem with all of this is the confusion and division that it engenders and that it is subtly and sometimes not so subtly encouraging a certain disobedience to and lack of respect for the Church Christ founded.
From this other article, we may extract... Pope Francis said, "This isn't Jesus' mother. And these alleged apparitions don't have much value. I say this as a personal opinion, but it is clear." Only the first seven apparitions are authentic. But the many thousands of alleged apparitions taking place from 1982 onward resulted in zero votes in favor. Official pilgrimages were forbidden until 2019. Unfortunately, such disregard and disobedience to Church authority has become legion and is now a veritable industry unto itself.
One of the seers, Marija Pavlović, said:
Through all those years I thought I'm gonna be a nun. I started visiting a monastery, my desire to go there was very strong. But the abbess told me: 'Marija, if you tend to join, you can, but if Bishop decides that you cannot talk about Međugorje, you must listen to him'. In that moment, I started to think that my calling is perhaps that I witness that what I saw and felt, and that I will seek my sainthood outside the monastery.
She later married an Italian, Paolo Lunneti, in Milan in 1993, and they lived in a mansion in Monza. The apparitions are the reason she did not become a nun. Refusing to obey the Catholic Church is unredeemable damage.
That is why I take Emmerich's visions with caution as she subtly overrode Church festivities and the locations of sacred Christian sites. The Church and its Doctors come first; visions endorsed by Popes come second; and the imprimatur of a book comes third. The book Imprimatur from the Church is a must to read,
Cardinal Peter Erdo of Budapest has reportedly given an imprimatur to Kindelmann's related spiritual diary (Flame of Love), but that is not an affirmation of her reported revelation themselves. That simply means that a competent Church official has judged there are no doctrinal errors in her spiritual diary.
Having said that, the 5 main messages of Medjugorje are spot-on with the Church (1988 messages and earlier**), but we must follow the decision of the Church. It's good advice for a Catholic to practise prayer, fasting, daily Bible readings, confession, and Holy Communion. Your arsenal against evils, such as: open marriages, abortions, genocide, forced labor, child marriages, corruption, inequality, gambling, drug addiction, etc. Most Millenials see some as a limitation of their rights and freedoms when not permitted by law, as social trends and whims determine what is morally right. Human history repeats itself; knowing the Roman Empire became weak and immoral through an increase in luxury, we managed to disguise orgies with open marriages/sex dates behind closed doors, drunkenness with drug abuse, slaves with prostitution/child/cheap labor, accepting abortion/divorce by will, unprovoked wars to stir economies, contraception, etc. Read about Catherine of Bologna and the subtle deception of her apparitions in her book.
John Chrysostom (347-407), a Doctor of the Church said: "For this is part of the wiles of the Devil, to be ever mixing up the truth with error" (Catena Aurea, Aquinas).
Simony, the making of a profit out of sacred things is widespread nowadays. Simony is a sin that Saint Bernadette Soubirous (Lourdes, 1858) was very upset about, as she was also disturbed by lay people giving blessings. Any religious artefact or book should be sold for face value, and any blessings should be bestowed by God or a priest. Most religious endeavours nowadays prioritise money as the primary priority, with parishioners' and their salvation second. So, you'll get a diluted and contradictory religious sermon, a money pitch, and a donation card afterward. The end result is that most Catholics do not know that habitual contraception, porn, masturbation, avoiding confession, missing Sunday mass, and so on are mortal sins.
Let Jesus clarify to Saint Bridget of Sweden (1303–1373):
What do these judges signify if not the priests who have turned the divine wisdom into an evil and useless wisdom? Like clerks who take many words and assemble them into a few words, which say the same thing as the many did, so too have these present-day clerics taken my ten commandments and assembled them into a single one. And what is this single word if not: ‘Reach out your hand and give us money!’ This is their wisdom, to speak beautifully, to act badly and to pretend to be my servants while yet acting maliciously against me. For the sake of gifts, they gladly put up with sinners in their sins and bring about the downfall of simpleminded people through their bad example. Furthermore, they hate those who walk on my way.
Book: The Prophecies and Revelations of Saint Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden: Volume 1 by Saint Bridget
Even non-Catholic preachers, by sweetly displaying their sainthood and love for Jesus Christ on TV, are also negating themselves to Catholic ordination because they would hate to be another nameless soldier in humble, silent obedience. All the subtleties that demons love, as negating ourselves to follow God's will is the most difficult bar to overcome that only a few can achieve.
** At the grotto in Lourdes, France, on October 2022, I asked Mary for guidance. Three hours later, a retired Trinitarian priest sat next to me at the train station. We chatted in Spanish about Bosnia and his 30-year stint in Argentina as a missionary, where I grew up. He was a confessor at Medjugorje, and saw multitudes in adoration. The good fruits of the apparitions were obvious to him. Interestingly enough, his train was 3 days later. Thus, has Mother Mary kindly confirmed to me at Lourdes, through a priest, her presence in Medjugorje? She responded, in love, so I respond to her, by reading all 800+ Medjugorje messages (1982-2022). Am I able to give you a clean Catholic version? I think so, by creating a composite of the messages based on what struck my heart the most, personally. Somehow I felt the need to start in reverse order, and things got clearer:
" My heart (Mary's) today suffers so much pain.I am not giving up.Pain without faith leads to desperation. Meditate on Jesus' passion and death and love will win if your suffering is united in His suffering. Little children, offer your sufferings as a gift to God so they become a most beautiful flower of joy. Pray and seek more time for Jesus and then you will be able to understand and accept everything, even the most difficult sicknesses and crosses, with love, the way Jesus accepted them. My Son, through that love which He showed by the Cross, gave you the possibility to be forgiven for everything; so that you do not have to be ashamed or to hide, and out of fear not to open the door of your heart to my Son. To the contrary, my children, reconcile with the Heavenly Father so that you may be able to come to love yourselves as my Son loves you. When you come to love yourselves, you will also love others; in them you will see my Son and recognize the greatness of His love. The fruit of peace is love and the fruit of love is forgiveness. I am with you and I invite all of you, little children, that before all else forgive in the family and then you will be able to forgive others.Live in faith!
God has given to all a freedom which I lovingly respect and humbly submit to. You are struggling and spending your energies in the battle with the good and the evil that are in you. You must learn to keep rejecting everything that distances you from God's word and to yearn only for that which draws you closer to it.Do not let Satan attract you through material things. Without God you will never find peace.I (Mary) am with you and I pray for you and your conversion until you put God in the first place.If you do not first love God, then you will neither be able to love neighbor nor the one you hate.Consecrate your hearts to me and I will lead you. I will teach you to forgive, to love your enemies and to live according to my Son. Give me your open, purified hearts and I will fill them with the love for my Son, that you may triumph over weaknesses.His love will give meaning to your life and I will walk with you.My Son will act from within you and through you, because you will be "one". God gives you graces and you do not see them; pray and you will see them. God's grace will descend upon you and you will be able to retain it through fasting, prayer, purification and reconciliation. When you are far from God, you cannot receive graces because you do not seek them with a firm faith. Pray, pray, pray for the radiance of your prayer to have an influence on those whom you meet. Through the rosary open your heart to me and I am able to help you, and always be in your hand as a sign to Satan that you belong to me.The one who prays is not afraid of the future and the one who fasts is not afraid of evil, through prayer and fasting also wars can be stopped. A family cannot say that it is in peace if it does not pray. Do not attribute importance to petty things. Be open to God's love and leave egoism and sin.Ask of Jesus to heal your wounds, which you, dear children, during your life sustained because of your sins or the sins of your parents.May holy Confession be the first act of conversion for you. Start to live my messages, not with your words but with your life.I invite you to glorify God with deeds, through all of you.Little children, when you adore Jesus you are also close to me.
You are creating a new world without God, only with your own strength and that is why you are unsatisfied and without joy in the heart.Do not waste time on vanities, only knowledge of the love of my Son and unity in my Son can save you.God gives Himself to him who seeks Him.Open your heart and give time to God so that He will be your friend.May prayer become a need for you to grow more in holiness every day. The light of true faith comes only from prayer of pure hearts. Faith alone without 'love and works of love' is not what God is asking of you: my children, this is an illusion of faith, it is a boasting of self. Only 'love and works of love' will open the door of the Kingdom of Heaven.My children, it is those who walk towards the Heavenly Father with love and faith who will be saved. But not human love, rather God's love. Love means to endure and to give, and never, ever to judge. Love is repentance, forgiveness, prayer, sacrifice and mercy.I (Mary) will wait for you at this door. At this door, I desire to welcome and embrace all of my children. I will be with you until you come before the Heavenly Father to tell Him about yourself. I(Mary) am praying that when you come before your Father you can say: 'Here I am Father, I followed your Son, I had love and forgave with the heart, because I believed in your judgment and trusted in you.' If receiving my Son in the Eucharist is the centre of your life, then do not be afraid. Only a humble soul becomes Heaven, because my Son is in it. Those who follow my Son think of the brother in Christ as of their very selves and they do not know selfishness.In helping the other, your soul will also find salvation. Only hearts filled with goodness can comprehend and accept God the Father.
What I want from you is to show me your love by coming to Mass, and the Lord will reward you abundantly.Let holy mass be your life. Understand that the church is God's palace, the place in which I gather you and want to show you the way to God. Come and pray. Neither look at others nor slander them, but rather, let your life be a testimony on the way of holiness. Churches deserve respect and are set apart as holy because God, who became man, dwells in them day and night.My children, pray for the shepherds. May your lips be shut to every judgment, because do not forget that my Son has chosen them and only he has the right to judge. Work more on your conversion because you are far away, little children.Pray to the Holy Spirit for my Son to be impressed within you. Christmas, the birthday of my Son: prepare yourselves by means of penance, prayer and works of charity (do not look toward material things, because then you will not be able to experience Christmas). I invite you to have more faith and trust in God, who loves you immeasurably; each one of you shall become in the simplicity, similar to a child which is open to the love of the Father.I am with you and I love you all. I am your Mother and I wish that your hearts be similar to my heart. Get closer, little children, to my Immaculate Heart and you will discover God. Do not forget that your life does not belong to you, but is a gift with which you must bring joy to others and lead them to eternal life.
I invite you to change your life because you have taken a path of misery, a path of ruin. When I told you: convert, pray, fast, be reconciled, you took these messages superficially. You started to live them and then you stopped, because it was difficult for you. No, dear children, when something is good, you have to persevere in the good and not think: 'God does not see me, He is not listening, He is not helping'. And so you have gone away from God and from me because of your miserable interest. Forget your desires, dear children, and pray for what God desires, and not for what you desire. God doesn't want anything from you only your surrender. Surrender to the Lord your entire past, all the evil that has accumulated in your hearts.I want to create of you an oasis of peace, love and goodness. God wants you, with your love and with His help, to do miracles and, thus, give an example. Therefore, here is what I say to you: Satan is very strong, playing with you and with your souls and I cannot help you because you are far away from my heart. Therefore, pray, live my messages and then you will see the miracles of God's love in your everyday life. By means of the messages I wish to make a very beautiful mosaic in your hearts. My call to you is that the beginning and end of your day always be prayer. "
Wow! No wonder people are running around in confusion. Remove any parts that do not agree with the Church (i.e., the August 5th birth, Valtorta locutions, odd behavior by Mary, etc.), which are insinuated by false apparitions, and what remains is a faith booster. Confession, Mass, the rosary, prayer, consecration, fasting and works of love; in adversity, in suffering, in Christ.