Medjugorje: Mary’s Not the Message
The Rev. Dr. Augustus E. Succop III
Quail Hollow Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, NC
Jesus out shines his
parents; at least that’s what most Protestants have been taught to
believe. During Advent and Christmas, we Protestants make our annual
rendezvous with the holy family by getting out the crčche and arranging
it either under the tree or upon a mantel. In turn, we say good-bye to
the holy family when we carefully pack away the crčche until next year.
In doing so, we might recall the holy family in another setting: their
escape from Herod into Egypt (Matthew 2: 13). For the rest of the year,
Mary and Joseph are out of sight, out of mind. The focus of our
attention comes to rest on Jesus, and in one sense that’s too bad.
Jesus’ family album is
rather slim. The church’s knowledge of Joseph leaves much to be desired.
Tradition holds that he might have died early in Jesus’ adolescence,
although one fourth-century source records Joseph living to 111.
Strategically, Matthew and Luke use Joseph to weave the Davidic line
into the New Testament, thus making Jesus the fulfillment of Old
Testament prophecy. Aside from references to Joseph and apart from Jesus
being identified as “Joseph’s son,” Joseph leaves us no words, no
teaching, no reason for not setting our focus on Jesus.
With Mary, the biblical
family album is a bit more generous. Her words are recorded not only in
the birth narratives, but also in the account of the family’s pilgrimage
to Jerusalem (Luke 2: 41-51) and at the wedding in Cana (John 2: 1-11).
On two occasions, we find Mary growing in her understanding of Jesus and
“treasuring” (Luke 2: 19 & 51) the events of Jesus’ birth and his
developing identity. Although we can depict Joseph as being no less
intrigued by Jesus, the reader of the birth narratives is left with the
impression that Mary understood Jesus at some deeper level.
My understanding of and
appreciation for the Holy family deepened when I participated in October
2002 on a pilgrimage to the small Bosian-Herzegovian village of
Medjugorje. Although not front page news, Medjugorje has been in the
“news” since June 24, 1981. The village is perhaps no bigger than the
Bethlehem of Jesus’ day. Such was the setting in June 1981 when Mary,
the betrothed of Joseph, the Blessed Virgin, the Holy Mother of God
began to appear to six children. Today, some of the children, now in
their 30s, continue to convey from Mary messages from God. For almost 25
years, Mary has not been the message; she is the messenger. She points,
as she once did at Cana (John 2: 5), to Jesus. Her messages from God are
filled with words of encouragement and hope. Consistently, she
emphasizes the importance of prayer. “Little children,” she begins her
messages, referring not only to the visionaries, the 6 young adults, but
to the church, “believe that by simple prayer miracles can be worked.
Through your prayer you open your heart to God and he works miracles in
your life” (message of October 25, 2002). Mary also emphasizes the life
every human being hungers for, and which is to be found in relationship
with God. “Only when the soul finds peace in God, it feels content and
love will begin to flow in the world” (message of September 25, 2002).
As a Protestant and as a
Presbyterian pastor, I felt a call to go to Medjugorje. I had never
before been on a pilgrimage; for the most part I have been a tourist.
Going to Medjugorje was a unique experience. On more than one occasion
those in my group reminded me that I was perhaps the only Protestant for
500 miles. They may have been exaggerating the point. Once in Medjugorje
I felt like a welcomed member of a family. I had felt nudged to go to
Medjugorje back in 1988. Periodically, I would catch news about what was
happening there. One day my amazement began to go deeper. I wondered,
Why wouldn’t such an event be happening? Why wouldn’t God still be
concerned and involved in our world? If given an opportunity to go to
Medjugorje, why wouldn’t I go? In September 2001, Mary called me through
the friend of a friend to go to Medjugorje. I went in October 2002.
In the midst of human
terrorism unequalled in modern time, God’s messages through Mary remind
the church of its calling to be whom God has called it to be: the agent
for changing the life of the world. What other agent of change is there
in the world besides the church? The UN? The Red Cross or Crescent? The
Salvation Army? The World Bank? The USA? According to Mary, God has
equipped only the church with what is needed to change the life of the
world. Through Mary God is seeking to remind if not awaken the church to
its role to lead the world from conflict to consolation, from hate to
hope, from fear to friendship.
Periodically the church’s
witness is severely discounted. Both Roman Catholic and Protestant
churches have had their share of sorrows and burdens. To say that either
witness of the church for the sake of peace on earth has been persuasive
much less heard is to stretch credulity. What can be said, however, is
that the church -- and I include Protestant, Roman Catholic, East and
West – still plays a crucial role in the life of the world. It is the
church, not some other “helping” agency, political or otherwise, that is
called to provide the world with the vision of a life where all people
live in peace, a world not alarmed by its diversity, but a world willing
to embrace racial, ethnic, and cultural uniqueness, and together call it
good.
Daily 10 a.m. English
Mass in Medjugorje at St. James Church would bring the world before my
eyes. Sitting in pew and kneeling along side of people from all four
corners of the world, I came to notice in a new way the importance of
the church’s commitment to know, love, and serve Christ, and why it is
that Christ holds the key for world peace. It has been said that in
Medjugorje heaven and earth have touched. Seeing and hearing one of the
visionaries, Marijana, tell of receiving messages from Mary had me
considering the irony of that encounter. While I listened, the world and
no less a community of nations were gearing up for global conflict. And
yet, Marijana’s witness spoke of God’s constant concern for the life of
the world and the divine kindness God holds for every person. She also
spoke of God’s great patience with the church to be the church. The
great hope is that there still is time for a better world to be
proclaimed and lived. Mary has called the current time “a time of
grace,” a time that will not last forever, but a time that must be used
by the church if the world is to realize the fulfillment of Isaiah’s
prophecy (Isaiah 9: 6-7) that a child lead the nations to a day of
everlasting peace.
Mary is not the message.
Mary is a messenger called by God to remind and encourage the church to
be the agent of change it was called on Pentecost to be. When at the end
of their pilgrimage the Magi reflected upon whom they found in the
Bethlehem manger, I picture them in strange agreement that the one in
the manger was the beginning of something desperately needed by the
world. In time that someone would become the church, the body of Christ.
Mary in Medjugorje points to Jesus, to the one born in Bethlehem, who
grew up, and who is to be found in all the world through the mission and
witness of his church. Mary is now reminding the church of whom it is
and how it may fulfill its calling.
I returned from
Medjugorje inspired to lead one flock of God’s people in the demanding
work of being the church, convinced more than ever of the life changing
value the church’s mission and witness hold for our time and for a new
day that is surely dawning.
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