I hope, in the meantime, you've been taking to heart Our Lady of Medjugorje's monthly messages. If you would like to receive the messages in a vivid email format, you can join my mailing list, in the right column of this blog.
Today's post is about a book I just finished reading this week: Medjugorje: What's Happening?, by Fr. James Mulligan. Below are 5 reasons I think you'll enjoy this book.
1. Offers the most complete history of Medjugorje I've found. If you're someone who knows generally about Medjugorje, but has questions about it, such as "Where does the Vatican stand? What did Pope John Paul II and what does Pope Benedict XVI think about these supposed apparitions? Why did God choose this little village to appear? What does Mary look like, when she appears to the visionaries?", all of these questions and many more are answered in this book. The book actually starts with a thorough and early history of the region around Medjugorje - putting into perspective how the region came to have a strong Christian faith - and going right up into 2011, with the latest occurrences. I have not seen such a complete encapsulation of everything Medjugorje in any other resource.
2. Addresses the good, the bad, and the ugly. Medjugorje is not without its share of controversy, including the fact that its local bishop does not approve of the apparitions and there have been many outspoken against them. This book thoroughly addresses the main opponents of Medjugorje and lends their perspective. I think this is important, because it's healthy to be skeptical about reported apparitions and most accounts of Medjugorje avoid the questions of why should we believe and perhaps push too hard to get the reader to believe without asking questions. Fr. Mulligan doesn't shy away from those questions, or at least why others are asking them.
3. Put in perspective of other Marian apparitions. You might believe in Fatima, Lourdes, Guadalupe, and other Marian apparitions. Fr. Mulligan takes us through the main components of those previously-approved apparitions and how Medjugorje compares.
4. Good interviews with the visionaries. I think, like anyone interested in the reported Medjugorje apparitions, you have questions you would love to ask the visionaries. Fr. Mulligan interviewed each of them individually but presents different sets of questions for each visionary (instead of presenting the same questions asked to each). I found this a really nice way to learn a lot about Our Lady of Medjugorje and why she is reportedly giving messages from Heaven.
5. The best pictures I've seen in any Medjugorje book. Having one of the most-recent Medjugorje publications means Fr. Mulligan has the advantage of the latest photographic and printing technology, and he packed this book chock-full of great photos (you'll see old, grainy photos, from when the apparitions reportedly began, in the '80s, too, but also plenty of new ones). I've visisted Medjugorje and the photos really took me back there, in spirit. For those who haven't visited, you'll see everything from the apparition sites to the main Medjugorje "players" to all of the beautiful Medjugorje artwork, villagers, and so much more. This book is as much a photographic journal as it is a written one. You can actually see some of these photos and read a few pages at Amazon.com (click here and then click the book cover, when you arrive at Amazon).
Happy reading and mir ("peace", in Croatian)
Image credit: http://bit.ly/XMzDtz
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