Chasing unapproved appartitions

 

Ivan Dragicevic, the visionary from Medjugorji, is going to be at a friends home today and I was invited to attend Rosary and Mass and to meet him.  Is this something I can do since Medjugorji is not approved by the Church.  I do not want to put my soul in jeopardy if this is not allowed.  Please let me know your thoughts.

 

Be Cautious – St. Paul also instructs us to “test everything; hold fast to what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Thus, openness to private revelation, particularly when the Church has not yet passed judgment, becomes uncritical credulity unless it is tempered with caution.  For example, we cannot accept any purported message of Our Lady that cannot be reconciled with public Revelation, even where the Church has not intervened. Further, seeking after extraordinary signs is disordered when such enterprise takes priority over the less glamorous daily demands of the Gospel. As Bishop Alexander J. Brunett of Helena, MT, recently wrote:  All too often the faithful are led on pilgrimages to the four corners of the world where some new sighting is claimed. Their conduct is not far removed from those who chase UFOs, looking for secrets from some distant planet. How much they have distanced themselves from Christ, who reminds us that the “the Kingdom of God is within you.”We should keep in mind, though, that the Church does uphold the value of pilgrimages, teaching that “pilgrimages evoke our earthly journey toward heaven and are traditionally very special occasions for renewal in prayer” (Catechism, no. 2691).  And yet this must be balanced with the reality that we can regularly make pilgrimages to Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament in our local parishes, thats the real miracle of Catholic Christianity. Private revelations such as Lourdes, Fatima, and others are yet another sign that God has not abandoned His Church, but is truly with us. Be Obedient – Until the Church renders her official judgment, the faithful are free to accept (or reject) any private revelation if nothing in the message or concurring phenomena is contrary to faith and morals. For example, the throng witnessing the miracle of the sun at Fatima in 1917 did not have to wait until final Church approval in 1930 to begin living the message of Fatima. However, once the Church has concluded that a particular apparition is not authentic, the faithful need to walk away. Similarly, once the Church declares an apparition as “worthy of belief,” we must respect the Church’s decision and those who choose to incorporate the apparition into their life of devotion. They also provide an invitation to deepen our conversion to Christ, often through a heightened awareness of Mary’s spiritual motherhood. They are a gift to the Church that ought to be received soberly, but also joyfully.