My Thoughts on a "Trendy *ALLEGED* Apparition"...

Hi everyone. I don't blog much anymore, as you can obviously see, and so I'm sorry for not getting to comments very quickly.  I have been much more active on Facebook, than on blogger, so if you'd like to read what I've been up to on fb, then look me up there.  Susan J. Melkus. 

Now for my thoughts on Medjugorje.  For those who've gone and have been blessed and graced, good. But there are also those who have gone, and it's not been good. They don't talk about it, much, due to the quite robust and sadly, very UNMarian rebukes they receive from many who have gone and now are 'caught up in it' way too heavily!  It's become a 'fad' and a 'trend' for many, not all, but what is so sad is that it is now only dividing the Body of Christ even further, causing division among otherwise good and faithful Catholics. I am not judging ANYONE'S soul, but for me?  I do NOT believe the apparitions and messages are definitively Mary.  And I have discerned that by much reading, prayer, research.  If you don't agree, then don't agree. We can agree to disagree.  Back in 2007 I believed in it, since 2005 actually ... but in 2009 I started seeing little 'red flags' and began doing my research and have come to believe it is not Mary and that's my opinion.  NO apparition, approved or unapproved, is NECESSARY for my growth in the Faith and it is not necessary as a Catholic to 'follow' any of them!  Got it?  I hope so!

Kindly, however, refrain from calling me 'worse than Stalin' for my skepticism.  That isn't becoming of a daughter of Mary to lash out at others, calling them worse than a murderous thug and communist dictator ... I mean, STOP IT!  You won't win me or anyone over to your "lady of Medj" that way! You simply CANNOT go beyond and above the Church and definitively say that IT IS MARY doing the talking!  I can't say it is not her, definitively either, but I CAN say, "I do NOT believe it is her." Big difference.  Learn the difference before calling another sister in Christ 'worse than Stalin' because MARY, my BLESSED MOTHER, would never do such a thing, and SHE never yammers on and on!  She is a Woman Wrapped in Silence (Great book by John Lynch) which seems very opposite of what "your" Lady of Medjgorje is.  Word will come down from the Magisterium one day, as a decision IS forthcoming, probably even this year, when we have a new Papa/Pope.  So until then, I am a firm *non* believer' in Medj. If you are a firm believer in the ALLEGED apparitions and the messages, ok.  But then please, BE MARIAN and BE QUIET about it, and grow in humility and grace as you 'keep it to yourself' because SHE NEVER PUSHES herself on anyone, and SHE NEVER would become so outraged as to call a daughter of hers 'worse than Stalin' for not believing in her ALLEGED apparition/messages.  Good day, and  God bless.