Credible modern-day prophecies have to be spread, I strongly feel, because of their proximity to fulfillment. Even the prophecies of saints and holy people belonging to several centuries ago seem to point to our times.
The most notable, nay, credible, prophecies in the times we now live (thus excluding equally credible Lourdes in 1858 and Fatima in 1917) are those from Akita in Japan, Kibeho in Africa, Garabandal in Spain and Medjugorje in Bosnia-Hercegovina (former Yugoslavia).
There are others, but they are not as well known as these four.
As in the last column, I dwell on developments in Medjugorje, picking up from the publication of Fr. Ljudevit Rupcic and Fr. René Laurentin, titled “Is the Virgin Mary Appearing at Medjugorje?” and an interview of visionary Mirjana Dragicevic by Fr. Petar Ljubicic on October 26th 1985, as quoted by the news service Spirit Daily.
Again, the backdrop here are the 10 so-called secrets revealed by the Blessed Mother to each of the six visionaries of Medjugorje.
Some of the secrets varied according to the visionary, but some seemed to be common among them, particularly those that would affect all mankind.
Fr. Petar was chosen by Mirjana as the priest to help her convey the secrets to the world, three days before they happen one after the other.
“On October 26th 1985 Mirjana gave a most enlightening interview about the beginning of the 10 secrets.. The day before, the Virgin Mary had shown her the visible consequences of the first secret.
The interview is a very valuable piece of documentation: Because the vision was fresh and clear in Mirjana’s memory, and because the interviewer was Fr. Petar Ljubicic, by that time already chosen as the priest to reveal her secrets to the world,” noted Spirit Daily.
Mirjana said that the first secret “will not be any pleasant” and be “something that people will hear about very far”.
She said the event will “abundantly speak for itself” and that those in Medjugorje “will know immediately that it is in connection with the secrets”.
About the first secret, Mirjana commented: “Surely no one wishes to watch disasters, distress, and misfortune. I don’t think this sort of thing attracts people at all. Why would people go to see something of that sort?
It is one thing to go and see a sign, quite another to go and see suffering or a disaster. Who would, for example, go to Italy to see a dam collapse?”
The day after the Blessed Virgin Mary gave her a vision of the first secrect, Mirjana said: “It shook me the most. That was, of course, due to seeing the first secret.
If people saw the first secret, as it was shown to me yesterday, all of them would most certainly be shaken enough to take a new and different look at themselves and everything around them.
I now know things that are not particularly pleasant. I believe that if everyone knew about the same things, each one of these people would be shocked to their senses and would view our world in a completely different light.”
“It will last for a little while. It will be visible; it is necessary to shake up the world a little. It will make the world pause and think,” she added.
Fr. Petar Ljubicic asked Mirjana if some people would push scientific explanation for the event in the first secret and she replied: “Perhaps some staunch unbelievers might say something like that after the first and the second.”
Mirjana said, however, that the first secret would not be catastrophic: “It will not be anything as huge as that. That will come later. These first two secrets are not all that severe and harsh.
What I mean is, yes, they are severe, but not as much as the remaining ones…. What follows are the secrets which are really unpleasant. I would be happy if everyone would finally understand that. I cannot tell them much more, but once they begin to be fulfilled, then it will be too late”.
What to do? Mirjana urges conversion, prayers and fasting.
“The Blessed Virgin told me that it is necessary to pray a great deal until the first secret is revealed. But in addition to that it is necessary to make sacrifices as much as possible, to help others as much as it is within our abilities, to fast – especially now before the first secret.
She stated we are obliged to prepare ourselves,” Mirjana said.
“She not only asks but pleads with everyone to convert, to pray, to fast. They have no idea what awaits them (those far from God), and that is why, as their Mother, she is in deep anguish for them”, Mirjana said.
Mirjana stressed that “It is not enough to just simply pray. It is not enough to just quickly say some prayers so that one can say that they prayed and did their duty.
What she wants from us is to pray from the depths of our souls, to converse with God. That is her message.”
