I safely left the rest to those who were fed by other kinds of devotions.
We are not commanded to follow any private revelation.
I knew there was something suspicious about Medjugorje as soon as I stepped off the bus, but I didn't want to tell Mom who shelled out quite a bit of money to take me there. I was quite ill at the time and she thought she was taking me to a healing shrine. Some people go every year. Bosnia is a beautiful country, but I wouldn't go back just for Medjugorje. I did feel somewhat sorry for the locals who were caught up in the whole sorry hoax, but they have to make a living as well. Somehow, I got the sense that the locals didn't take Medjugorje all that seriously either (they shouldn't).
According to the Church, Lourdes is not a hoax. It's also a beautiful shrine. Some people (again, like my mother) have thought that shrines healed, not God. That is certainly the temptation with any apparition and shrine, approved or not. Some people, however, are very centered on the material and experiential. Shrines and relics are important for them as they provide a concrete manifestation of the sacred. I could live on more abstract fare. The vacations were nice, though.
I even met Vassula! She is creepy, let me tell you. That's all.
