Children can see what we can’t

Joseph Lee L'Heureux

Innocent children are the most receptive to the truth, but also the most vulnerable to abuse. A child once said, “I think what we live down here on earth is a dream, reality is up there in heaven with God.” What could this child see what we seem to miss? This sounds strange doesn’t it, yet this came from the mouth of an eight-year-old whose mother was in a common-law relationship. The child was not with his father, nor did they attend church. What could this child see and understand that we, the common folk, seem to miss? Our Lord Jesus Christ full of joy once said. “I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.” (Luke 10:21) King David the psalmist once wrote. “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained your praise.” (Psalms 8:1-2) These past 27 years and counting, a virgin has appeared in the heavens calling us to repentance. These apparitions began to six children in Medjugorje, Croatia, 27 years ago and she still appears to them today, some daily, others monthly and to another yearly. Who is this virgin? And what may she know about Holiness? Why always to children. She is the Virgin Mary, the blessed Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, she who has been given the name of ‘Immaculate Conception’: This “dogma” was declared by Pope Pius IX in 1954 after hundreds of years of haggling over the previously believed Doctrine of the Virgin’s own conception. (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23, Luke 1:23 and Matthew 1:24-25) What is a dogma? A dogma is a tenant of faith, which a Christian must believe if he/she claims to be Catholic. This dogma was not manmade, note, “above previous haggling over this belief.” This ‘Marian Dogma’ was only declared after 1,000-plus years of belief, then confirmed by the apparition of the Virgin Mary in 1858 to St. Bernadette at Lourdes, France. This innocent, illiterate, backwoods girl could hardly have known of this declaration due to her lack of schooling and education, yet Bernadette claimed that the woman in the apparition had called herself “The Immaculate Conception” when asked who she was. Why can these children see? There was one young adolescent girl in 1858 at the Lourdes apparitions, three children in 1917 at the six Fatima, Portugal apparitions, and now the daily apparitions to six children in Medjugorje, Croatia, daily since June 24, 1981, albeit no longer children but still seers. It is the Virgin Mary appearing to innocent children, encouraging them and us to chastity and holiness. The state of purity in the children must be assumed to be void of any pretense or agendas. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (John 3.3) And “I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?” (John 3:11-12) The church and clergy, school and teachers and those in authority have taken a major hit in chastisement these past 60 years; by both the faithful, wise and well educated of our society. However, the blame does not stop there. According to a recent survey, 40-60 per cent of boys and 60 to 80 per cent of girls have suffered some form of sexual abuse. In a movie about a trial where a few black girls had been raped by an older white man in the community, a statement was made by the victim. “Your honour, a black girl living in a white community is an acceptable victim, sooner or later she will be a target of sexual abuse.” Fathers, grandfathers, uncles, big brothers, cousins, boyfriends and neighbours: the collateral damage must stop with us. We have to be the ones protecting the innocent, a good moral foundation and example must be taught by us. After working with the homeless, down trodden and working girls in the streets for 20 years, I personally know the above statistics to be very close to the truth. Why would our Lord Jesus Christ send Mother Mary, a virgin with this message of repentance and change? When you consider the statistics on sexual abuse the message seems quite obvious. May God forgive us and bless us all.