“Let Jesus set you free.” Letter to the Archbishop of Prešov about the Spiritual Experience on Mount Zvir (Litmanová, Slovakia) (4 July 2025)DICASTERY FOR THE DOCTRINE OF FAITHConsiderations about the Spiritual Experience on Mount Zvir (Litmanová, Slovakia)“Let Jesus set you free.”To His Excellency Rev.Msgr. Jonáš Maxim, M.S.U.,Archbishop of PrešovFor Catholics of the Byzantine riteDear Brother,You explained to us that, amidst the Marian devotion inspired by the alleged apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Litmanová between 1990 and 1995, “the sincere and profound confessions in that place are countless and there is no lack of conversions as well.” You recounted how the site has grown over the years due to the increasing number of pilgrims (as noted in your letter dated 5 February 2025). Moreover, you expressed your appreciation for the “many spiritual fruits obtained by the pilgrims who continue to visit the site, even though the ‘apparitions’ ended thirty years ago.” Finally, you proposed the decision of nihil obstat “to accompany the phenomenon in question in a pastoral manner” (your letter dated 27 May 2025).Analysis of the alleged messages reveals valuable calls for conversion, along with a promise of happiness and inner freedom, which is Christ’s work in our hearts:“Let Jesus free you. Let Jesus set you free. And do not let your Enemy limit your freedom for which Jesus shed so much blood. The free soul is the soul of a child” (5 December 1993).Our Lady, who is full of grace, presents herself as happy: “I am happy” (5 December 1993). She also repeats this as an invitation to discover the true path to happiness, which begins with the recognition of being unconditionally loved:“I love you as you are. […] I love you! I love you! I want you to be happy, but this world will never make you happy” (7 August 1994).The appeals that are made in various messages aim to encourage people by demonstrating that the way of the Gospel is not complicated. Rather, it makes life simpler, such as when, in the silence of our hearts, Christ revives us and simplifies our existence:“I would like to ask you, as your Mother, to begin to live simply, to think simply, and to act simply. Seek out the silence so that the Spirit of Christ may be born anew within you” (5 June 1994). “He always wants you to be simpler” (8 March 1992). Yet, this simplicity must not be mistaken for superficiality, because the simplicity of the Gospel way leads us to the depths of life and to the inexhaustible riches of divine love: “Dear children, you experience things very superficially; it is precisely because you do not go into the depths that you cannot feel peace and joy” (4 June 1995).By finding our joy and peace in the Lord, we become “peace” for others: “may you become peace” (9 July 1995), “so that then you may be able to spread peace” (6 September 1992). This call to true happiness—which is a result of knowing that we are loved by God—reappears as a means for evangelization:“Be happy because God loves you and you are very important to him, and transmit this joy to others, so that they too can believe, through your joy, that God loves us” (9 October 1994).The phrase, “you are very important to him,” helps to understand how the light of God’s love enables us to recognize our dignity. Elsewhere, Our Lady says, “When I look at you, I see God in each of you. You are a great reflection of God” (9 July 1995). The call to accept God’s love is constant: “Never oppose the grace of your Lord who loves you greatly” (8 August 1993).This also implies a call to engage fully in walking the path of responding to the Lord’s initiative. First, we must freely accept the Lord’s love: “Accept the graces prepared for you today” (8 August 1993). Next, we must embark on a process of transformation: “In the name of our Holy God, I ask you: change your lives, give your old lives to my heart and begin to learn from my Son” (5 September 1993). Ultimately, it is about imitating Christ, who gives himself out of love: “Jesus sacrificed himself for the people, why don’t people sacrifice themselves as Jesus did so many years ago[?] People have so many things, whatever they want, and they would kill each other just to have more of these material things. Jesus himself taught us that we must love one another and forgive one another” (18 November 1990).Loving our brothers and sisters becomes the ultimate expression of our response and fulfillment:“I rejoice immensely for each of your sacrifices you have offered out of love for others […] The mission of each of you is to love, because life is made for this and only love will be able to give fullness to your lives” (5 February 1995).At the same time, within these alleged messages, we do find some ambiguities and unclear aspects. However, this must be discerned in the light of what the Doctrinal Commission explained well in its April 20 2011 report: “The [alleged visionaries] testify that during a meeting, Mary conveyed to them a message [that] they later publicly interpreted” and that “the communication was through a particular internal mode,” which the recipient “could not even name and therefore the final verbal expression of the messages is a [stylization] and interpretation of the [alleged visionary].” Indeed, when asked what language she used to communicate with Our Lady, Ivetka replied, “We do not use any language when we talk” (8 August 1993).This fact allows one to accept the general value of the alleged messages. At the same time, some (a few) of them still require clarification, such as one message that suggests a specific person may not be forgiven or that nearly all people in one part of the world are condemned (24 February 1991), or another message stating “the cause of all sickness is sin” (2 December 1990); such messages cannot be considered acceptable and, therefore, are not appropriate for publication. However, assuming that they are only limited and confused expressions of an internal experience, they could be correctly understood when viewed in the context of the other messages. As finding Christ’s love brings us happiness, so closing ourselves off from his love destroys our lives, renders them a failure, and becomes a source of suffering.These considerations allow the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to accept your proposal to proceed with the declaration of “nihil obstat” for the Marian devotion that arose on Mount Zvir. Although this declaration does not imply recognition of the supernatural authenticity of the alleged apparitions, it nevertheless permits the approval of public devotion and informs the faithful that they can safely approach this spiritual offering, it they so wish, and that the basic contents of the alleged messages can help us live the Gospel of Christ. At the same time, we entrust Your Excellency with the task of publishing a compilation of the messages that excludes those few statements that could lead to confusion and disturb the faith of ordinary people.With much esteem and warm regards in the Lord and in the Most Blessed Mary.Víctor Manuel Card. FernándezPrefect

https://x.com/josephnollasj/status/1943089006079541442?t=qm5QUoxtmjISL0nzPG6n0A&s=19

ByPattiMay 24, 2025

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Only recently have I heard of the Church-approved apparitions of Our Lady of Nicaragua, also known as Our Lady of Cuapa.  The visions with messages for our time, took place from April 15 to October 13 in 1980.  

Bernardo Martinez was a humble, middle-aged Nicaraguan rancher who died  in 2000 as Father Bernardo Marinez, having been ordained a priest in 1995 at the age of 64. This article is condensed from Martinez’s full statement on the apparitions given to Bishop Mons. Pablo Antonia Vega, Prelate Bishop of Juigalpa.

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Poor but Devout

Bernardo lived in the valley of Cuapa, Nicaragua.  He was as a poor but devout Catholic who volunteered to care of the small sacristy of his church since the time of his boyhood.  His conscientious care of the sacristy led to the first apparition. 

Twice, once in March and again in April of 1980, he found the lights left on in the sacristy.  “I did not think that these signs were coming from heaven and for that reason I should quarrel with these ladies, because of the cost of electricity. I wanted to tell them to be more careful with the lights because we have very little money.”

On the night of April 15, 1980, Bernardo again saw the lights on and went to turn them off. Instead of lights, he found the statue of the Virgin Mary illuminated.  He thought the light could be coming from broken roof tiles above. It was not. Then he wondered if there was a phosphorescent rosary in her hands.  

When he realized it came simply from the statue itself, Bernardo’s humility and simplicity led him to think Mary was angry with him for blaming the women for leaving the lights on earlier. That same evening, when his rosary group assembled, he apologized publically to the women and shared what he had just witnessed. In spite of asking the rosary group not to spread the story, they did. Bernardo was ridiculed by some. His pastor, however, told him to pray to Mary and ask if there was anything she wanted from them. Bernardo kept up the prayers he had been faithful to since childhood, a daily rosary and three Hail Mary’s, and he also prayed the prayer  his priest had ordered but always asking for her to pick someone else.

What do You Want?

On May 8, 1980, Bernardo returned home from fishing at 3 o’clock to feed the animals and pray the Rosary in the chapel with people at 5 o’clock. On the way, he saw a flash of lightening and feared it would rain. Looking about, he realized there were no clouds.  At the second flash, the Virgin Mary appeared. 

“I felt no fear, I was surprised. I had thought and said: What am I seeing? Could it be the same statue of the Virgin that they brought and placed here for me? … I then passed my hand over my face because I thought that what I saw was a dream….

“And when I removed my hands from my face, I saw that she had human skin and that her eyes moved and She blinked…. My mind was the only thing that I could move. I was in those thoughts when She extended Her arms — like the Miraculous Medal, which I never had seen, but which later was shown to me…. When she gave out her light is when I became encouraged to speak, although somewhat stammering. I said to her: What is your name?

“She answered me with the sweetest voice I have ever heard in any woman, not even in persons who speak softly. She answered me and said that Her name was Mary…. I asked her, then, where She came from. She told me with the same sweetness: ‘I come from Heaven. I am the Mother of Jesus.’  At hearing this I immediately asked Her — remembering what the priest had told me — I asked her: What is it you want? ‘I want the Rosary to be prayed everyday.‘

“I then interrupted and said to her: ‘Yes, we are praying it. — The priest brought us the intentions of the San Francisco parish so that we would unite ourselves with them.’

“She told me: ‘I don’t want it prayed only in the month of May. I want it to be prayed permanently, within the family, including the children old enough to understand; to be prayed at a set hour when there are no problems with the work in the home.‘

“She told me that the Lord does not like prayers we make in a rush or mechanically. Because of that she recommended praying of the Rosary with the reading of Bible citations and that we put into practice the Word of God.

“When I heard this I thought and said, ‘How is this? Because I did not know the Rosary was biblical. That is why I asked her and said, Where are the biblical citations?‘

“She told me to look for them in the Bible and continued saying: ‘Love each other. Fulfill your obligations. Make peace. Don’t ask our Lord for peace because if you do not make it there will be no peace. Renew the Five First Saturdays. You received many graces when all of you did this.‘

“Before the war we used to do this. We went to Confession and Communion every First Saturday of the month. But since the Lord already had freed us from the shedding of blood in Cuapa, we no longer continued this practice. Then she said:

‘Nicaragua has suffered much since the earthquake. She is threatened with even more suffering. She will continue to suffer if you don’t change. Pray! Pray, my son, the Rosary for all the world. Tell believers and non-believers that the world is threatened by grave dangers. I ask the Lord to appease His Justice, but if you don’t change, you will hasten the arrival of a Third World War.‘

“After she had said these words, I understood that I had to say this to the people and I told her: ‘Lady, I don’t want problems. I have many in the Church. Tell this to another person.’ She then told me: ‘No, because Our Lord has selected you to give the message.‘”

October 13. Last Vision 

There were five visions in all, the last one being on October 13, also the date of the last vision of Our Lady of Fatima to the three shepherd children in Portugal.  Bernardo and around fifty people prayed the rosary and sang “Holy Queen of Heaven.” While singing, everyone suddenly everyone saw a large luminous circle over the ground that gave off lights in different colors without coming from the sun. 

“It was 3:00 in the afternoon. One could feel a small breeze that moved softly. Pleasant, like a fresh shower, but which did not wet us. While we observed this, we were silent and continued seeing that circle of light which gave off colored lights from the exact center, where the sun is at twelve noon.

“All of a sudden a lightning flash, the same as the other times; then, a second one. I lowered my eyes and I saw the Lady.”

Bernardo again asked Mary to let everyone see her. She began to cry, as did Bernardo. She told him: ‘It saddens me to see the hardness of those persons hearts. But you will have to pray for them so that they will change. Pray the Rosary. Meditate on the mysteries. Listen to the Word of God spoken in them. Love one another. Love each other. Forgive each other. Make peace. Don’t ask for peace without making peace, because if you don’t make it, it does no good to ask for it.

“‘Fulfill your obligations. Put into practice the word of God. Seek ways to please God. Serve your neighbor as that way you will please Him. They ask of me things that are unimportant. Ask for faith in order to have the strength so that each can carry his own cross.

“‘The suffering of this world cannot be removed. That is the way life is. There are problems with the husband, with the wife, with the children, with the brothers. Talk, converse, so that problems will be resolved in peace. Do not turn to violence. Never turn to violence. Pray for faith in order that you will have patience.

“‘You will no longer see me in this place.”

Bernardo began to shout, begging, “Don’t leave us my Mother!”

Mary said: “Do not be grieved. I am with all of you even though you do not see me. I am the Mother of all you sinners.

“Love one another. Forgive each other. Make peace, because if you don’t make it, there will be no peace. Do not turn to violence. Never turn to violence.

“Nicaragua has suffered a great deal since the earthquake, and will continue to suffer if all of you don’t change. If you don’t change, you will hasten the coming of the Third World War.

“Pray, pray, my son, for all the world. Grave dangers threaten the world. The Mother never forgets her children, and I have not forgotten what you suffer. I am the Mother of all of you sinners. Invoke me with these words:

“Holy Virgin, You are my Mother, the Mother to all of us sinners.”

With those words, the apparitions ended. Bernardo continued as the sacristan for a while. As word of the apparitions spread, however, he was persecuted by many and even bribed to say Mary had come as a Sandinista, (the Sandinista National Liberation Front political group). When he refused, he was persecuted all the more with threats and even having women trying to seduce him. For his protection, he left his village and lived his days out in a seminary where he was ordained a priest in 1995 and died five years later.

It is noteworthy to add to this story that (according to MiracleHunter.com), In 1880, Fr. Andres Rongier, SJ, a Jesuit missionary from Mexico, prophesied that Cuapa would be a famous future site of a Marian apparition. On Aug 20, 1931 Bernardo Martinez was born. Martinez’s statement posted on MiracleHunter.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ https://pattimaguirearmstrong.com/our-lady-of-nicaragua-2/

https://x.com/QuantumAlteredX/status/1925167698205409699?t=qi4otFIF3p-6MsLLdidffg&s=19

Pope Leo XIV appears visibly moved as he receives the Fisherman's Ring during his inaugural Mass as pope.

Video: Vatican Media pic.twitter.com/Rp2UCRBPC2

— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) May 18, 2025

https://twitter.com/Sachinettiyil/status/1921091683367751807?t=j61H7b6UeOT8gMJ-VHNe7w&s=19

Vassula Rydén Has Died

According to reports circulating on the Internet, Vassula Rydén, 82, an author and public speaker who claims to have received messages from Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, has died.

She developed a large following, especially among confused Novus Ordo Catholics, who came to her lectures and bought her writings and tapes.

In 1995, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a Notification on her writings, stating that her messages should not be considered supernatural.

It appears that Vassula died on the night of 24-25 September after her operation on Monday. “True Life in God Greece wrote that “today, at 2:30 am, Vassula went to be with Jesus”.

On 11 September, Vassula had surgery involving an endoscopy to put in place a stent but the endoscopy was unsuccessful. The doctor had to give up because of a hard lump in the stomach which prevented him from going further with the camera and the robot and was therefore unable to place the stent.

Therefore, Vassula had to be brought to a hospital in Athens for this operation to be conducted by a specialist in medical robotics. Since then she was in hospital and in need of painkillers.https://gloria.tv/post/TsC862Ngw9SP126yCPD3u4mMk

https://gloria.tv/post/jCHL1NrwCS3668Ce1ZGdyMHC8

Pope Francis grants ‘Nulla Osta’ for Medjugorje

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, with the assent of Pope Francis, grants approval for devotion linked to  Medjugorje, recognizing the abundant spiritual fruits received at the Sanctuary of the Queen of Peace without making a declaration on the alleged supernatural character of Marian apparitions.

By VATICAN NEWS

Bishop in Charge of Medjugorje Accepts Francis Ambiguous Approval https://gloria.tv/post/XsoWHruA6H6W2fQQQxQQSCPAT

The Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith sends a letter, approved by the Pope, to the cardinal bishop of Como granting the ‘nulla osta’ regarding spiritual experiences at the Sanctuary of Maccio.

Vatican News

The entry into force of the new Norms for discerning alleged supernatural phenomena has allowed a new “green light” from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, this time with regard to spiritual experiences at the Shrine of Maccio in Villa Guardia, near Como in northern Italy.

In 2000, Gioacchino Genovese, a music teacher and choir director, married and the father of two daughters, began to perceive through “intellectual visions,” a “living presence of the mystery of the Holy Trinity.” A serious, discreet person who never sought the limelight, five years later he invited more people to be involved with adoration, supplications, and novenas.

After an initial examination of Genovese’s writings and of the phenomenon more generally, in 2010 the then Bishop of Como, Diego Coletti gave the parish church the status of a Sanctuary with the title Santissima Trinità Misericorida (“Most Holy Trinity Mercy”).Read more here https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2024-07/ddf-recognizes-trinity-fount-of-mercy-messages.html#:~:text=faith-,Dicastery%20for%20the%20Doctrine%20of%20the%20Faith%20recognizes%20’Trinity%20Fount,at%20the%20Sanctuary%20of%20Maccio

DEAR friend, you will certainly know, even if you have not visited them yet, about the shrines of Guadalupe, Fatima, Lourdes, Medjugorje… Perhaps, however, you may never have heard of the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Health in Velankanni, India, which is visited annually by more than 20 million pilgrims, many of whom are not even Christian.

A well-founded oral tradition speaks of two apparitions of Our Lady in Velankanni. The first dates back to 1570, and it concerns a local shepherd boy who was on his way to deliver milk to a customer in a nearby village. On the way, near a pond, he met a beautiful woman with a baby in her arms who asked him for some milk for the little one. The boy readily agreed, and then set off again. Arriving at the customer’s house, the boy apologized for the missing milk and told of his encounter with the beautiful lady. The man, certain that the boy was lying, flew into a rage but, at the moment he was about to hit the boy, the milk, to his astonishment, overflowed from the bucket. The man then, intrigued by the boy’s tale, went with him to the pond, and there Our Lady appeared to him too. The fact spread quickly among the neighboring Catholic community, which called that pond Matha Kalum, i.e., Our Lady’s Pond.

The second apparition is said to have happened in 1597, not far from Matha Kalum. A beautiful woman with a baby in her arms appeared to a poor lame boy selling buttermilk. Our Lady asked him for some butter for her baby, and when the boy gave it to her, she told him that it was important to always do good to others. Eventually, she told him to visit a rich Catholic gentleman in a nearby town. He was to inform the man what had happened and invite him to dedicate a chapel to her at the site of the apparition.

The crippled boy immediately got up and ran to the man without realizing that he had been healed. Listening to the boy’s story, the man had no doubts about whether he should believe him or not, because the day before he had dreamt of Our Lady asking him to build a chapel in her honor. Together they went to the place where Our Lady had appeared, and there the man had the grace of being cured of a disease from which he had been suffering for some time. On that very spot, a small chapel was built, which soon became a place of devotion to Our Lady, called Arokia Matha, meaning ‘Mother of Good Health’.

The shrine, which began as a thatched chapel in the 16th century, was transformed into a large church in the 17th century following a new miracle. A Portuguese ship was caught in a terrible storm. The crew invoked the Virgin’s help and the tempest subsided. As a sign of gratitude, the sailors rebuilt the shrine and continued to enhance it whenever their voyages took them to the area. In 1962 the church was elevated to the special rank of Minor Basilica by Pope John XXIII.

Velankanni is affectionately known as the Lourdes of the East because, just like Lourdes in France, the many pilgrims who visit the shrine pray to Our Lady for their various needs and then come back to thank her for the graces granted through her intercession with Jesus, the Divine Healer.

Dear friend, in this month of May, which is particularly dedicated to Mary, let’s turn our prayers to her so that she may sustain our faith and our hope, and help us to care for one another with sincere love.

Updated on April 28 2023 read more https://www.messengersaintanthony.com/content/lourdes-east