Book Review - Medjugorje: The Message by Wayne Weible

Anyone who has read a lot about Medjugorje knows Wayne Weible. For those not yet familiar with him, he is arguably the best author of information about the reported apparitions of the Blessed Virgin in Medjugorje. That includes his first book - which has sold close to one million copies worldwide and is the top-selling book about the apparitions - Medjugorje: The Message.

Weible, in a humble and often humorous fashion, tells the story of how he, a devout Protestant - and part of a religion which does not recognize Mary's importance - , came to learn about the reported apparitions while preparing a Christmas column for one of three newspapers he owned at the time, and how Our Lady's messages soon became of central importance in his life. If you feel what is happening in Medjugorje has become important to you, you will connect with Weible while reading this book.

That's because Weible does a masterful job of relaying his emotional journey, from skepticism to believing a little, to believing a lot, to feeling like he might be crazy, to feeling like what is happening in Medjugorje is so important he needs to do something about spreading the messages himself. I laughed often while reading this book, because the parallels between how I've felt at times and how he's felt at times are just uncanny.

Do you feel like what is happening in Medjugorje has taken hold of you, and started to shape your life? Do you feel you speak about it, whether it's to a friend or a family member, and sense they think you're a little off your rocker? Do you think Our Lady of Medjugorje is giving us important messages, which we all should listen to? You'll truly appreciate this book and feel in good company, if you have not already read it.

I don't think I would recommend this book if you are just beginning to learn about the apparitions, or if you hold an air of skepticism about what is happening there. Weible definitely makes a pretty big jump from someone who is skeptical to a believer. He cites a few times when he actually feels he can hear Our Lady speaking to him, as if through locution, and directing his path. It would probably seem a little too much to believe, if you're just getting acquainted with what is happening in Medjugorje.

But if you, like myself, have felt that inner calling ... whether it's to learn more about Medjugorje or to spread the messages .... you'll get it. You'll understand where Weible is coming from. And you'll end this book understanding why you have that calling, and clarifying your own role in all of it.

Book Review - The Medjugorje Prayer Book, by Wayne Weible

Hello again, everyone!

I just finished reading The Medjugorje Prayer Book, by Wayne Weible. This was a book I wasn't too sure I'd be excited about when I picked it up, but one I came to really appreciate by the time I put it down. My thoughts are below.

Before I continue to the review, though, I would just like to remind all of you why I'm doing reviews such as these, and why I think these resources are important to you. 

I've spent the past several years immersed in reading messages from Our Lady of Medjugorje as well as many resources devoted to spreading those messages. It is amazing Our Lady blesses us with words of guidance, giving us the blueprint to make it to Heaven.

But there is a reason Our Lady is coming to us, and for such a long time now. The apparitions at Medjugorje (over 25 years) are the longest-lasting apparitions of Our Lady in history. Our Lady has told the visionaries these are also her last apparitions on Earth, because after these apparitions her presence here will no longer be necessary. She is coming to us because the world needs correction:

"I have come to tell the world that God exists. He is the fullness of life, and to enjoy this fullness and peace, you must return to God".

There is little known about the secrets the Medjugorje visionaries hold, but we know some involve chastisements which will come to the world after the apparitions are complete. This doesn't matter, because if Our Lady wanted us to know about them she would have told us. The point is that we all have to be doing better because God is not happy with the state of the world. We don't know when the apparitions will cease, which means our personal conversion needs to begin now. 

There are many reported miracles and healing which has come from what is happening at Medjugorje. These blessings are examples to us that all things are possible through God. It's that "fullness and peace" Our Lady spoke of. She wants us to have that. We're all capable of it, but we need to take steps forward in our conversion to achieve it.

And it's not difficult. It just involves small steps. Reading the monthly messages is a start. Applying them to our lives is the point, though. Simply being interested in what is going on doesn't help. We all need to take Our Lady's words to heart and make it happen. 

This is why I am making these great resources known to you. They have helped me start to take those small steps forward, to start to put to practice what Our Lady asks of us, and I know they can for you, too.

Our Lady has really made the point that, overall, we're kind of asleep at the wheel in our lives. We have so many distractions nowadays that it is really no wonder. But there are tons of good resources out there, which can help us get and stay on track for the only thing that really matters - our eternal life.

I hope that you find my recommendations useful (tell me if there is something I could be doing better, because I appreciate your feedback). But whether you use these resources or others, seek and learn and grow and spread what you know!

Erik Haan

Medjugorje Book Reviews

Good resource for: 

Anyone who is looking for deeper, more meditative prayer. This is a good read for those of us who feel prayer is saying a bunch of words but don't feel that connectedness with God when we say those words.

Summary:

An important lesson I've learned from my research of the messages of Our Lady of Medjugorje is that prayer is a conversation with Jesus / God / Mary / The Holy Spirit. Conversations, according to Dictionary.com, are an "informal interchange of thoughts, information, etc., by spoken words". The point of this book is to make prayer that "informal interchange" and a more relaxed and fulfilling experience for you. It's all about connecting with Jesus / God / Mary / The Holy Spirit on that personal level.

Weible does this in The Medjugorje Prayer Book by taking us through what he calls "The School of Prayer". 

"The School of Prayer" is a library of meditations which can be said on their own or prior to traditional prayers, such as the Rosary. Weible, a former Protestant who converted to Catholicism after personal experiences related to the apparitions of Our Lady of Medjugorje, presents prayers he has come to feel inspired by Our Lady to say throughout the years. They're meditations which help him to stay out of the rut of just saying the words of the Rosary, for instance, without really meaning what we're saying.

This is where I really connected with this book. In my own personal prayer life, it seems there are certain prayers which have just popped into my head and then become part of my daily routine. I think this comes from slowing things down and listening in the silence of meditative prayer. So  I think Weible is really presenting something which can help take your personal prayer life to the next level. 

Weible is quick to point out his meditations are more a guideline than anything. While he encourages his readers to use the prayers which he has come to find have helped him, he also points out that as we grow in our prayer life we'll come to find our own meditations which serve us better.

So I definitely recommend this book for those seeking deeper meditation during prayer. You can currently purchase a used copy for as little as $5.81 at Amazon.com. You can also read other reviews, the front and back covers, and a few pages there, by the way!

Medjugorje Book Review - A Child Shall Lead Them

I just finished reading another book about Medjugorje, titled A Child Shall Lead Them: Stories of Transformed Young Lives in Medjugorje (author Wayne Weible).

This book really highlights some of the fruits of these reported apparitions. Weible gives several accounts of teenagers who were headed down the "wrong path" in life, with vices including drug abuse and alcoholism, but then turned their lives around after learning of what was happening in Medjugorje. He even recounts the story of his own daughter, who had an abortion, and how she later came to be someone who would live and carry the messages of Medjugorje with him.

The book is both saddening and heartwarming. The lives of these children really accents the general state of youth and the dark temptations they suffer through these days. It is no wonder the Virgin Mary has often asked through her Medjugorje messages that we pray for today's youth. But the book leaves a hopeful tone, as well, since the answers to these problems - prayer, fasting, and penance, are so easily accessible. The stories of these children can be beacons of light to not only parents but really everyone. It does not matter what your current condition is. God is always waiting, with open arms, to lead us back home.

I have placed my book for sale on Amazon.com and highly recommend you read it!




Erik Haan

Medjugorje: The Messages & The Mission