08 December 2018

Medjugorje apparitions real, say scientists



Years ago, I came to possess (how, I can´t recall), a glossy-paged booklet on scientific findings on the Marian apparitions in Medjugorje (the visions began in 1981 and continues to this day). 

Specifically, scientists, headed by Dr. Henri Joyeux, studied the visionaries there to find out whether they were merely hallucinating, , or experiencing something that science would be able to explain afterall, or simply lying (an improbability even in the eyes of laymen at that stage of the apparitions). The scientists attached modern scientific instruments on the visionaries, particularly when they were seeing the Blessed Mother, with so many wires attached to their heads you´d be reminded of Frankenstein.


The conclusion: all five visionaries were physically and mentally healthy and that instruments attached during apparitions indicated they were visually experiencing a tri-dimentional object during their visions. It was this object that established a barrier to science as it was applied in Medjugorje. The object, afterall, was supernatural. 

Recently, 20 years later, the same group of scientists conducted another study of the apparitions through the visionaries and came to this conclusion: “After twenty years, our conclusion has not changed. We were not wrong. Our scientific conclusion is clear: the Medjugorje events must be taken seriously.”


Contrary to some dark forces in foreign media have been reporting, the Medjugorje apparitions are reaching higher credibility in Catholicity. Polish Archbishop Henryk Hose has said:  “I believe that the message of peace, which is central here in Medjugorje, is intended for the whole world,” and that the  message  being delivered in Medjugorje can be put at the same level as those in Lourdes and Fatima.


It should also be noted that the commission established by then Pope Benedict XVI to study the Medjugorje phenomena voted overwhelmingly to recognize as supernatural the first seven appearances of Mary in 1981.

Notes  Catholic writer Mark Mallett: “For the first time in 36 years since the apparitions began, a Commission seems to have ´officially´ accepted the supernatural origin of what began in 1981: that indeed, the Mother of God appeared in Medjugorje. Moreover, the Commission appears to have affirmed the findings of the psychological examinations of the visionaries and upheld the seers’ integrity, which has long been attacked, sometimes ruthlessly, by their detractors.  The committee argues that the six young seers were psychically normal and were caught by surprise by the apparition and that nothing of what they had seen was influenced by either the Franciscans of the parish or any other subjects. They showed resistance in telling what happened despite the police [arresting] them and death [threats against] them. The Commission also rejected the hypothesis of a demonic origin of the apparitions.”

Why is it important to take Medjugorje seriously? Because there must, without doubt, be a serious reason for such long-standing Marian apparition there. The Blessed Mother, nay, God Himself, is telling us something. Thus, the messages from Medjugorje are God´s voice reaching out to us. Two important words echo from there repeatedly: prayer, peace.

Prayers not only for favors, but also  for mercy, peace between God and manking, peace among mankind. I would think these are appeals for something really big afoot. See the Blessed Mother´s messages in her apparitions in Akita, Japan in 1972. 

By ding cervantes
Nov. 29, 2018


                                                Seeing the Church another way

Of course there are times when  priests have to travel to foreign countries to do things….perhaps for the Church, thus, for God. But when priests post Facebook photos more like tourists enjoying foreign sorties, could they not be alienating their poorest parishioners who are convinced never in their lifetime would they ever set happy foot on foreign shores? Those penitent  few (they belong to endangered species) who  show up for scheduled confessions in churches where no priest shows up to erase the agony of unforgiven sins, would they delight in seeing their priests on Facebook  in delirious euphoria?

Our times are such that the call for not just priests, but saintly priests. This, the Blessed Mother had once said in one of her recent apparitions.

On the issue of seeing some aspects of the Catholic church with some eye for disagreement, I am giving way to the words of prolific Catholic writer and author Michael Brown, because he had commented on it so comprehensively and logically. 

Here´s Michael Brown:

¨This isn’t to question the Church itself. (We all have some Pharisee in us.) It isn’t to question the liturgy. It isn’t to question the deep traditions, the rich rituals, which go back to ancient Jerusalem. Nor is it to besmirch those many good and holy priests, bishops, and cardinals. (No matter what, we must remain obedient and respectful; the saints did.)

¨¨It’s to question the bureaucratic approach to Catholicism, which in too many cases has caused bishops and priests to perform their duties in a way that is entirely detached from laity; aloof from mystical theology; insensitive to the living Spirit; and in its almost sole attentiveness to human religious laws and worldly-political involvement, in line less with Jesus than with Pharisees. When a convocation of bishops looks too much like a shareholders meeting, something must be reconfigured.

¨That is a root of the crisis, for without such aloofness, the abuse cover-up — the feeling of clerical superiority that allowed some priests to consider youngsters something they were entitled to use (and bishops to then obscure the misdeeds — for the sake of the institution, as well as the power base and coffers) — would not have occurred and the Church would not be in an historic “crisis.”

¨That’s in quotation marks because a better word than crisis is perhaps breakdown, deconstruction, or cleansing (or all of three): a purge. To purge is to cleanse. This is good. The Pope just this week called clericalism a “perversity.” One needs only quote him. The pontiff has said it “breaks my heart” to see priests and nuns driving the latest-model cars. He’s blasted “airport bishops” who spend more time jet-setting than walking amidst their flocks. And he’s warned against church leaders who bear the ´psychology of princes.´ ´God save us from a worldly Church with superficial spiritual and pastoral trappings!´ Francis said in his book-length blueprint for the church.

´¨And when one looks at the Pharisees, one sees not evil men, but men who had become too enamored of their canonical religiosity and positions, allowing their laws — often ones of minutiae — to assume more importance than what the Bible taught — which is God’s Love and supernaturality. The very word “pharisee,” derived from the Hebrew root prs [v;r’P], means set apart, separate, or detached. It has come to mean self-righteous.

¨The New Testament presents the Pharisees, especially their leadership, as focused on and even obsessed with man-made rules whereas Jesus, while a faithful Jew, roamed beyond the strictures and structures. There are great, spiritual, loving bishops out there. And whatever, they all, by their position, deserve respect. Jesus said, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you. . .” (Matthew 23:2-3). 

¨But there are also bishops who have strayed from that to such a startling degree that they have taken the term “prince of the church” literally (and even living in castle-like homes). In this regard one recalls that Jesus called Pharisees “hypocrites.” We all must be careful not to be that.

¨Any form of arrogation is not in the Plan of Christ, and needs to be broken down. The current crisis — a searing, ebrangling one, but good if it leads to the simplification of humility — is heading in this direction. Cardinals have suddenly lost a significant degree of public worldly standing and increasingly are seeing the need to relate more directly with the laity.

¨Whatever one’s view of the Pope (and one should think twice or three times before besmirching one), we must recognize that he has repeatedly called for just this: priests who step out of upper-floor offices, who move from elaborate surroundings, who “smell like their sheep,” who tend to pastoral cares more than administrative ones, veering away from the role of prominent local businessman (or politician) and turning into evangelists, into healers. There is something fundamentally askew when we have more canon lawyers than exorcists.

¨The abuse scandals, mainly homosexual, will always be a catastrophe because of the extraordinary damage done to youngsters, especially boys; few fully recover; some committed suicide. Think of this: the action of shepherds caused the deaths of their own sheep. It is the classic wolf in clandestine accoutrement.

¨But it is a ´good´ crisis if it results in ´princes of the Church´ realizing that their role is not that of powerful bureaucrat, it is not to preach dry exegesis on blackboards, it is not to array themselves in worldly splendor, it is not to sit royally enthroned, with minions scurrying about, it is not to be like Second Temple pharisees; but simply to act and preach and function — on the rural roads, the byways, the alleys, in simple attire — as did Jesus the Christ and His true disciples.¨

Well said. So well said.

02 November 2018

Halo halo
By ding cervantes
Oct 26, 2018

                                       Where most people land: Purgatory

One hundred years ago, the entire world was populated by people busy with matters we remain busy with:  doing work at home, office, or factories;  partying over weddings, birthdays, anniversaries; in frenzy over new practical discoveries in science and technology; awed by people who live in grand palaces, are viewed in theatres, are in power.


Those people, millions of them all over the world, are mostly dead. We replaced them. A hundred years from now, someone else could be writing something like this: that a hundred years ago, people partied with drugs, went gaga over smart phones, dreamt of cars that travelled faster than hurricanes, etc.

Yet who takes seriously the prospects of dying? Prospects of afterlife which, according to Christian and even non-Christian beliefs, is determined by how we had lived on earth?

At one time in one of her modern-day apparitions, the Blessed Mother said it is seldom that people go directly to Heaven. Most pass through Purgatory, she said.

Purgatory. That is the place where many ghosts come from. And, gathering from the Blessed Mother’s statement, most of us will probably land. It is but reasonable for us to seek information about Purgatory. In the Church that Jesus founded, there is no shortage of such information.

In this regard and because Nov. 1 is at hand,  I am quoting from the Unpublished Manuscript on Purgatory which was given Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur by Catholic authorities. It is a booklet that recorded conversations between a ghost, a former nun allowed by God to communicate with a nun still alive in a convent in France in the 1800s. It gives a lot of details on purgatorial afterlife.

Here’s a quote from the ghost-nun:

“I can tell you about the different degrees of Purgatory because I have passed through them. In the great Purgatory there are several stages. In the lowest and most painful, it is like a temporary hell, and here there are the sinners who have committed terrible crimes during life and whose death surprised them in that state. It was almost a miracle that they were saved, and often by the prayers of holy parents or other pious persons. Sometimes they did not even have time to confess their sins and the world thought them lost, but God, whose mercy is infinite, gave them at the moment of death the contrition necessary for their salvation on account of one or more good actions which they performed during life. For such souls, Purgatory is terrible. It is a real hell with this difference, that in hell they curse God, whereas we bless Him and thank Him for having saved us. 

“Next to these come the souls, who though they did not commit great crimes like the others, were indifferent to God. They did not fulfill their Easter duties and were also converted at the point of death. Many were unable to receive Holy Communion. They are in Purgatory for the long years of indifference. They suffer unheard of pains and are abandoned either without prayers or if they are said for them, they are not allowed to profit by them. There are in this stage of Purgatory religious of both sexes, who were tepid, neglectful of their duties, indifferent towards Jesus, also priests who did not exercise their sacred ministry with the reverence due to the Sovereign Majesty and who did not instill the love of God sufficiently into the souls confided to their care. I was in this stage of Purgatory. 

“In the second Purgatory are the souls of those who died with venial sins not fully expiated before death, or with mortal sins that have been forgiven but for which they have not made entire satisfaction to the Divine Justice. In this part of Purgatory, there are also different degrees according to the merits of each soul. 

“Thus the Purgatory of the consecrated souls or of those who have received more abundant graces, is longer and far more painful than that of ordinary people of the world. 

“Lastly, there is the Purgatory of desire which is called the Threshold. Very few escape this. To avoid it altogether, one must ardently desire Heaven and the vision of God. That is rare, rarer than people think, because even pious people are afraid of God and have not, therefore, a sufficiently strong desire of going to Heaven. This Purgatory has its very painful martyrdom like the others. The deprivation of the sight of our loving Jesus adds to the intense suffering.” 


But beyond information about Purgatory, the more important thing for us in this world is for us to help those in Purgatory. They can not help themselves. They had finished their time for earning graces. But those of us still on earth, the so-called Church Militant, can shorten their stay in Purgatory and hasten their path towards Heaven.

So let me share the following effective prayer for them, as gathered from St. Gertrude the Great:


“Eternal Father,
I offer You the most precious blood
of thy Divine Son, Jesus,
in union with the Masses said
throughout the world today,
for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory,
for sinners everywhere,
for sinners in the universal Church,
for those in my own home,
and in my family. Amen.”


Halo halo
By ding cervantes
Oct. 23, 2018

                                      Scientist recalls the Fatima sun miracle


One shortcut to boosting faith in the Catholic Church, nay, in the existence of God, is via Marian apparitions and other supernatural manifestations within the Church and, I say with with emphasis, largely within the Church. Many of these manifestations were studied with much scrutiny by experts, including professed atheists, and found to be beyond the realm of nature and, by the reluctant admission of some of them,  undeniably supernatural.

This was how I had my Catholic faith solidified. Accidentally I came across a drab looking book on I saw in a drab corner of a drab bookstore, yet I bought the book. After leafing through its brown pages, I found out it was all about an apparition of the Blessed Mother in a place called Garabandal, Spain. 

Thus began my Marian journey that led me to many materials on the most modern studies of some of the apparitions, all coming to the conclusion of supernaturality. The data I had gathered over the years were dovetailed by faith that was to be fortressed tall and thick.

Since we’re in October, month of the Holy Rosary and commemoration of Our Lady of Fatima, allow me to share with readers the potential for such experience by citing a testimony of a scientist who witnessed the events at Fatima in 1917.



Here is what Dr.  Almeida Garrett, professor of the Faculty of Sciences at Coimbra university, wrote: “It must have been 1: 30 pm when there arose, at the exact spot where the children were, a column of smoke, thin, fine and bluish, which extended up to perhaps two meters above their heads, and evaporated at that height. This phenomenon, perfectly visible to the naked eye, lasted for a few seconds. Not having noted how long it had lasted, I cannot say whether it was more or less than a minute. The smoke dissipated abruptly, and after some time, it came back to occur a second time, then a third time.

 “The sky, which had been overcast all day, suddenly cleared; the rain stopped and it looked as if the sun were about to fill with light the countryside that the wintery morning had made so gloomy. I was looking at the spot of the apparitions in a serene, if cold, expectation of something happening and with diminishing curiosity because a long time had passed without anything to excite my attention. The sun, a few moments before, had broken through the thick layer of clouds which hid it and now shone clearly and intensely. 

“Suddenly I heard the uproar of thousands of voices, and I saw the whole multitude spread out in that vast space at my feet, turn their backs to that spot where, until then, all their expectations had been focused, and look at the sun on the other side. I turned around, too, toward the point commanding their gaze and I could see the sun, like a very clear disc, with its sharp edge, which gleamed without hurting the sight. It could not be confused with the sun seen through a fog (there was no fog at that moment), for it was neither veiled nor dim. At Fatima, it kept its light and heat, and stood out clearly in the sky, with a sharp edge, like a large gaming table. The most astonishing thing was to be able to stare at the solar disc for a long time, brilliant with light and heat, without hurting the eyes or damaging the retina. (During this time), the sun's disc did not remain immobile, it had a giddy motion, (but) not like the twinkling of a star in all its brilliance for it spun round upon itself in a mad whirl.

 “During the solar phenomenon, which I have just described, there were also changes of color in the atmosphere. Looking at the sun, I noticed that everything was becoming darkened. I looked first at the nearest objects and then extended my glance further afield as far as the horizon. I saw everything had assumed an amethyst color. Objects around me, the sky and the atmosphere, were of the same color. Everything both near and far had changed, taking on the color of old yellow damask. People looked as if they were suffering from jaundice and I recall a sensation of amusement at seeing them look so ugly and unattractive. My own hand was the same color. 

“Then, suddenly, one heard a clamor, a cry of anguish breaking from all the people. The sun, whirling wildly, seemed all at once to loosen itself from the firmament and, blood red, advance threateningly upon the earth as if to crush us with its huge and fiery weight. The sensation during those moments was truly terrible. “All the phenomena which I have described were observed by me in a calm and serene state of mind without any emotional disturbance. It is for others to interpret and explain them. Finally, I must declare that never, before or after October 13 (1917), have I observed similar atmospheric or solar phenomena.”


 -30-

28 February 2018

Angeles City's Nepo area now

It is said that the Nepo center in Angeles City during the era of the US Air Force base at Clark Field was largely empty land, except for a quad that was famous for stalls selling American goods from Clark. The Americans left Clark in 1991 because Pinatubo volcano was about to erupt. It was  a departure that was to be made permanent by the non approval of the PHL-US Military Bases Agreement by the Philippine Senate the following year, The Nepo Center was left like an orphan. over the years, as Clark was converted into an economic zone luring investors with tax privileges, Angeles survived, prospered and attracted big malls. Nepo owners had to contend and invested in good buildings in their center. Now the Nepo center is unrecognizable from its American era years. Just see the photos below.