At six o'clock the whole town would stop to pray the rosary, and by six twenty the first two sets of mysteries would be completed. Then at 6:20 the visionaries would have their daily vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
So I'm sitting on the balcony of the guesthouse with my friend Eleanor praying the rosary. When we began the rosary at 6:00 I looked at the sun. It was a blaze of light in the sky above. The blaze of light was reflected on the hood of the car parked below the balcony where we were sitting.
I'm praying the rosary with my eyes closed and at 6:20 Eleanor gives me an elbow in the ribs. I look up and the sun is now a white disc in the sky, and it is spinning around like a Catherine wheel with sparks shooting off the edge. I can't believe my eyes and look away. I look down to see the reflection of the sun in the hood of the car. The reflection is spinning like a Catherine wheel too.
I'm not making a statement about Medjugorje. I'll leave that judgement up to the Pope.
I'm just saying what happened to me.
Did the sun really spin? Of course not. Something else happened, and I wasn't the only one who saw it spin that day, but I can't explain it.
By the way, the rosary I bought in Medjugorje was a pewter color when I bought it. I brought it home--unopened and unused, and when I got it home the metal had changed to a gold color. I can't explain that either.
I believe. This same thing happen in the Republic of Togo in West Africa in 1999. My mum was there with thousands of other Catholics and they say it.
ReplyDeleteI have a picture a friend took there, in which what looks like an outline of the Blessed Mother appeared in the corner after it was developed. It's quite amazing; I don't know what to think of all the controversy either, but I know she saw the same thing you did, and I know what I see in that picture.
ReplyDeleteFr L,
ReplyDeleteI believe what you write, but like the Samaritans, not (just) because of your testimony but because of what I have heard. Let me explain, though regrettably at some length:
Some years ago (probably c1990), when working in London, I was in the company of an older colleague, who was also sometime my boss, when he lowered his voice and asked if he could tell me something which I must not repeat to anyone of our other colleagues. Regrettably he died many years ago and since his concern was that others would not understand and he would be ridiculed, I think I can now repeat what he told me. I should add that he was a very devout practising Catholic and whilst I was (and presently remain – just) an Anglican, he knew from our conversations that I am very much of catholic persuasion and that we both shared an interest in devotion to Our Lady. He went to Lourdes and Walsingham on a number of occasions and likewise I have been to Walsingham a number of times.
He had recently returned from Medjugorje and said what others claimed was true. He had been there at 6pm with other pilgrims and had seen the sun dance in the sky. When he told me, at one level I found it hard to believe, but I had no reason to doubt the sincerity and truthfulness of his testimony. You see, he, like me, was a lawyer who had spent many years sifting fact from mere opinion and speculation. He was far more rigorous in relying on the actual evidence than the likes of Dawkins.
Nevertheless, whilst I believed his testimony, I could not in the fullest sense understand, or empathise, with it. I suppose to some extent such things as you saw must remain purely a personal experience. Having subsequently myself enjoyed a physical manifestation of a different kind which defied the known laws of nature, although I was always prepared to accept that such things could happen. I now have no difficulty in doing so. Where there is credible testimony, it is for the detractors to prove it is wrong. In legal terms, there is then not simply a prima facie case for the detractors to answer; they must prove their case.
I'm glad you didn't look at it for long. There are medical journal articles about people who got permanent eye damage from looking at the sun at Medjugorje: e.g., "Medjugorje Maculopathy", NEJM, May 1988.
ReplyDeleteI knew a woman who had similar experiences at Conyers, Ga., and I don't think those visions are approved, either. FWIW.
ReplyDeleteRC, I understand that the damage you describe happens to people who haven't been blessed in this way but who can't resist glancing at the sun in the hope of seeing the phenomenon and, in repeatedly doing this, damage their sight. I have never seen the sun spin but I know around a dozen people who have and some of these continue to do so regularly but none have damaged eyesight.
ReplyDeleteI have a dear friend from Croatia, and I believe him. There were other testimonies on 4marks the Catholic social site that explained how Medjugorie changed their lives. Jesus said to look at the fruits. People being changed is good fruit...pewter changing to gold is supernatural as is the sun spinning. Supernatural is not fruit, but it does spice up the flavor doesn't it? I believe and I probably will never make it there!
ReplyDeleteHaving read the wikipedia article, the dancing sun gets more explanation than the other, rather less spectacular but more physically improbable miracle.
ReplyDeleteIt had rained all day. People and the ground were soaking wet and muddy. But when the sun stopped its dance, the ground was dry and firm, and the people dry and clean, as if it had been another sunny day in a week of fair weather.
Allow me to explain a bit: water requires more energy to go from liquid to gaseous state (per gram) than any other known chemical. The amount of energy required to evaporate 1cm of rain over 1 square km is about 2,350,000,000 BTUs. And eyewitnesses report this occurring "in a few minutes."
ReplyDeleteMedjugorje is a great place... well, I never saw anything unusual there and I've been there several times but most of my internal conversions happened there, Our Lady helped me to learn things there and grow up a bit. Three days or a weak there almost equal a year at home for me^__^ for me Medjugorje is like a Karmel mountain... you climb up there and then you have to come back and live on your war-like life... I feel so blessed now:D
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