DO NOT BE MISLED BY ANOTHER FALSE RUMOR. THE
HOLY SEE HAS NEVER CONDEMNED NAJU.
July 4, 2011
On May 1, 2011, the Archdiocese of Kwangju in Korea
announced a new short declaration re-confirming its negative position on
Naju. This declaration was a potential insult to the beatification of John
Paul II celebrated on the same day by His Holiness Benedict XVI in St.
Peter's Square, as the Kwangju Archdiocese's declaration could throw into
question the validity of the beatification of John Paul II by the
re-confirmation of its negative position on Naju and, thus, by the
implication that the previous Pope had believed in and accepted a false
revelation in Naju. During the Korean Bishops' ad limina visit to
the Holy See in 1996, Blessed John Paul II had asked the Bishops to share
the wonderful grace in Naju with other peoples in Asia. In March
2001, immediately after the Korean Bishops' another ad limina visit
to the Holy See, Blessed John Paul II sent down his instruction to the
Congregation(s) to publicly make known his position on the miraculous
change in the Eucharistic species into visible Flesh and Blood on Julia
Kim's tongue in his chapel on October 31, 1995, which he had personally
witnessed after the Mass (as explained below).
In the declaration by the Kwangju Archdiocese on May 1,
2011, it was mentioned that its declaration had the support of His
Eminence Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith (the CDF), attaching the Kwangju Archdiocese's own
Korean translation of the Cardinal's letter dated March 30, 2011. As the
original letter from the CDF was not made public, however, it is not
possible to confirm the correctness of the translation. We explain below
(Pages 1-2) why Cardinal Levada's letter cannot be understood as a
condemnation of Naju as the Kwangju Archdiocese seems to purport it to be.
We write this article to make known to the Holy See and
all the shepherds and the faithful around the world the true facts of the
Blessed Mother of Naju so that the truths and facts may not be left
clouded and distorted by the false rumors and incorrect reports spread
widely by the opponents of Naju, reminding ourselves of our fundamental
duty as human beings and members of the Church: "A human being must
always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were
deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself"
(Catechism of the Catholic Church #1790). As we are lay people, what we
say and write does not carry the official dignity of the teaching
authority of the Church; we only express our beliefs and thoughts as our
testimonies based on our consciences and our faith that we have received
from the Church, within the lay people's rights and duties specified in
Canon Law (#212 (1), (2) & (3)).
About His Eminence Cardinal William
Levada's letter to Archbishop Hui-Joong Kim of Kwangju dated March 30,
2011
(1) The original letter in English signed by His Eminence
Cardinal Levada dated March 30, 2011 addressed to Archbishop Hui-Joong Kim
of the Kwangju Archdiocese has not been made public. The Kwangju
Archdiocese only made public their own translation of the original letter
into Korean, which gives rise to some concern regarding the accuracy of
the translation. For example, the Korean version of the letter contains
the following sentences (translated into English by us):
"It is obvious that the
so-called 'miraculous' occurrences in connection with Naju have now become
more eccentric. The cases involving Julia Kim, which her followers
presented to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, appear to
have almost no connection with the genuine Christian devotions."
These are very strong statements, but we have difficulty
in believing that the expressions such as "eccentric"
regarding the reported miracles in Naju and ". . . appear to have
almost no connection with the genuine Christian devotions" were
really in Cardinal Levada's letter. About the question of Julia Kim's
urine, we will offer an explanation on Pages 5-6. As to the phenomena of
the Blessed Mother's statue exuding tears, tears of blood, and fragrant
oil; the Eucharist species changing into visible Flesh and Blood; Julia
suffering the pains from the Crown of Thorns and scourging on Good Friday
and also receiving the Stigmata; and more, we find it very difficult to
understand the statement that says: they have almost
no connection with the genuine Christian devotions. If the
miracles in Naju have no connection with the Christian devotions, what
about many other similar miracles that happened in Church history and were
already officially approved? If we can see the original letter in English,
it will be easier to resolve our concern.
(2) In the same letter to Archbishop Kim, Cardinal Levada
reconfirmed that the official position of the CDF on Naju remains the same
as before, stating it as: "Non constat de supernaturalitate",
meaning "Unable to confirm that it is supernatural". We
understand that, under this announcement, the Church's position is not
conclusive and, therefore, the Church will continue to observe and
evaluate further development of the facts. This also necessarily implies
that the privately-initiated pilgrimages, prayer meetings, confessions,
testimonies, and so on will not be prohibited by the Church authorities.
If these activities are disallowed, it will be like preventing the Holy
Spirit from interacting with the people and thereby bearing fruits in
their lives, which will be totally inconsistent with the true meaning of
the current officially-stated position of the Church. The Kwangju
Archdiocese appears to consent to the Congregation's statement, when it
says in its Declaration of January 1, 1998: "Contrary
to what Mrs. Julia Youn and her sponsors have been insisting, the grounds
for believing the messages as private revelations are not clear"
(The Kwangju Declaration 1.1, (5)) and "Regarding the various
strange phenomena that have occurred to Mrs. Julia Youn and her
surroundings (such as the Blessed Mother's statue owned by Julia and Julia's
own body) as well as the personal visions, there are no grounds to prove
that they are truly supernatural phenomena according to the Faith. They
may rather be phenomena caused by certain preternatural power")
(The Kwangju Declaration 1.3). It is clear that the Kwangju Archdiocese is
not ready to make its conclusive judgment on Naju yet. Then, they must
continue their work of investigating Naju and gathering more evidence.
The reality in Korea, however, has been total repressions
and prohibitions of people's access to Naju, as if the Church had already
decided on and announced the condemnation of Naju. Many people in Korea
who continue to believe in the truthfulness of Naju and visit Naju have
often been denied the Sacraments, barred from the parish committees, and
even expelled from their parishes altogether. The restrictions on foreign
pilgrims have also been severe. The Decree of the Kwangju Archdiocese
issued in January 2008 announced that anyone in the world who visits
Naju is automatically excommunicated. It is obvious that such
persecutions are not consistent with the CDF's announcement of "Non
constat de supernaturalitate" and that a local diocese does not
have the legal authority to apply its penalty of excommunication to
anybody (even including Bishops) from any diocese and any country in the
world.
2. Some doctrinal problems in the
Kwangju Archdiocese's Declaration on Naju
Another problem in the first declaration of the Kwangju
Archdiocese on Naju of January 1, 1998 is regarding its doctrinal
statements that were the only formal bases for their condemnation of "the
Eucharistic miracles" in Naju. In the declaration, the Kwangju Archdiocese
stated that the alleged Eucharistic miracles in Naju contradicted
the authentic teachings of the Catholic Church. "Contradicting
the Church teachings" is the main and, usually, the only reason
and basis for officially condemning certain ideas, actions, phenomena, and
so on. Naju was condemned by this statement in the Kwangju Archdiocese's
declaration. The co-existence of this statement and the other statement
from the CDF: Non stat de supernaturalitate is irrational
and is another irregularity in the Kwangju Archdiocese's declaration.
Actually, the doctrinal issue has been repeatedly mentioned in
publications until now and, therefore, has become quite widely known.
(1) First, the Declaration says that the
assertion that the phenomena of the Eucharist changing into lumps of flesh
and blood in Mrs. Julia Youn's mouth have occurred is in conflict with the
Church teaching that says that the species of bread and wine must remain
unchanged even after the transubstantiation through the priest's
consecration (The Kwangju Declaration 1.2 (3)). We believe that
this statement in the Kwangju Declaration has problems in two ways: (a)
The Church only teaches that the priest's consecration causes the
substances of bread and wine to change into the substances of Our Lord's
Flesh and Blood without any concomitant changes in the species; in other
words, the priest's consecration does not have the power to change the
species of bread and wine. In the Declaration, it is asserted that,
according to the Church teachings, the species of bread and wine
must continue to remain unchanged even after the consecration.
This concept, however, is non-existent in the official Church teaching. If
the Church teaching really contained this concept, the species of the
Eucharist received by a communicant must not change in his body; nor can
they change in the tabernacles over time. It is obvious that the species
of the Eucharist do change in the communicant's body as they are digested
and also change in the tabernacle over time. Second, (b) one may say that the
statement in the Kwangju Declaration only describes what normally happens as
if this explanation could lessen the viciousness of the error to some
extent, but we are here not discussing the normal situation but a special
situation where God might have intervened supernaturally. If we reject and
condemn a miracle because it deviates from the normal conditions, we would
be denying the possibility of miracles altogether, which is an act
condemned by the First Vatican Council (DS #3034).
(2) In the Declaration, it also says that the phenomena that Mrs.
Julia Youn has been recklessly insisting to be miracles of the Eucharist
descending from the sky are in conflict with the Church teaching that says
that the Eucharist can begin to exist only through the consecration by
validly-ordained priests (The Kwangju Declaration 1.2 (1)). In the
13th Century, there were the Waldensian heretics spreading the error of
general priesthood, which meant that even the lay people could perform the
Eucharistic consecration. Against this error, the Fourth Lateran Council
in 1215 announced that only the properly-ordained priests could perform
the Eucharistic consecration, meaning that other people like laity and the
priests ordained in the heretical communities could not validly consecrate
bread and wine into the Eucharist. This doctrinal announcement did not
contain the concept that even Our Lord Himself, the Highest Priest and the
Source of all priestly powers, could not or should not form the Eucharist.
The Kwangju Declaration is misrepresenting the Fourth Lateran Council's
teaching. If it were correct, all of the miraculous Communions received by
many Saints in Church history would have to be rejected as mere receptions
of unconsecrated hosts.
Misrepresentation of the Church teachings is a very serious matter,
especially if it appears in the official documents of the Church. It is
our sincere hope that the CDF will clarify this matter and correct the
errors without any further delay, as so many people worldwide remain
confused.
3. Why did the Kwangju Archdiocese not order scientific
investigations of the physical evidence of the reported miracles or
conduct interviews with the Bishops, priests, and laity who witnessed the
miracles?
In Syracuse, Italy (1953) and Akita, Japan (1973), the
tear samples from the eyes of the Blessed Mother's images were promptly
sent to the science laboratories for examination. In both cases, the
samples were found to be human tears and this helped the local Bishops in
officially approving the miracles with confidence. In Naju, there have
been much more abundant opportunities to collect sample tears, tears of
blood, fragrant oil, the Eucharistic species changed into Flesh and Blood,
blood flowing from the Eucharist, the Eucharist descended from above, the
Lord's Precious Blood descended from above, healings of many serious and
incurable illnesses, and more over the past 26 years since 1985.
Nevertheless, the Kwangju Archdiocese has never ordered any scientific
tests. If the Church does not feel prepared to announce the final
conclusion about the reported miracles in Naju, it must be because there
have not been any scientific examinations, nor any serious investigations
of the eyewitnesses (which can be compared with the case of Betania,
Venezuela, where messages had been received and miracles had occurred
since 1976 and the local Bishop had interviewed more than 2,000 witnesses
before he announced the official approval in November 1987). The neglect
of the miraculous evidence in Naju over so many years has been serious
neglect of an important duty of the Kwangju Archdiocese. A declaration
without scientific tests and adequate interviews is not likely to be an
objective and credible judgment. When a monsignor in Korea was asked about
the reasons why the Kwangju Archdiocese had not ordered any scientific
tests, he answered, "The phenomena in Naju have been found to be in
conflict with the Church teachings. So, why bother with scientific tests?"
But the correctness of the Kwangju Arch-diocese's doctrinal presentations
itself is in question. If one relies on the Kwangju Archdiocese's
doctrinal presentations as the criteria for discernment, all of the
Eucharistic miracles in Church history and, in fact, all other miracles in
Church history would have to be rejected, which may also be what the
modernist theologians wish to do. Also, the fact that the official(s) of
the CDF at the time when the first Kwangju Declaration was prepared (1997)
consented to its announcement, seems to indicate that the current
officials of the Congregation have a more urgent reason to clarify the
problems and correct any previous mistakes so that the worldwide confusion
about Naju may be removed and the integrity of the Church's teaching
authority may be fully defended.
4. Blessed John Paul II's
recognition of the Eucharistic miracle in his chapel on October 31, 1995
has been completely ignored by the Kwangju Archdiocese
During the Korean Bishops' ad limina visit to the
Holy See in 1996, Blessed Pope John Paul II asked Bishop William
McNaughton of the Inchon Diocese in Korea (who was the only American
Bishop in Korea at that time): "Does Naju belong to your diocese?"
The Bishop answered, "No, Naju is further to the south of my diocese."
The Holy Father asked again, "What do you think of Naju?" The
Bishop answered, "I believe it is true." The Holy Father said, "I
also saw the Eucharist changing into (visible) flesh and blood in Julia's
mouth." (This information was provided by Bishop McNaughton himself to
Fr. Aloysius Chang after his return from Rome.)
In March 2001, the Korean Bishops were again on their ad
limina visit to the Holy See. During a lunch meeting with a half of
about 20 Korean Bishops (because the dining room was not large enough to
accommodate all of the Korean Bishops at a time), Pope John Paul II asked
the Bishops, "What has happened to Naju?" The Bishops were
not answering. Archbishop Victorinus Youn of Kwangju was also silent.
After a long, awkward silence, Bishop Paul Chang-Yeol Kim from the Cheju
Diocese in Korea, sitting next to the Holy Father, said to the Holy
Father, "I will make a detailed report after the meal." So, after
the lunch, Bishop Kim reported the situation in Naju and in Korea to the
Holy Father for about one hour. After intently listening to Bishop Kim's
report, the Holy Father appeared very satisfied, smiled, and embraced
Bishop Kim. The Holy Father said he would send his instructions to the
Congregation(s). The effects of these instructions appeared two months
later as explained below.
In May 2001, a group of pilgrims from Los Angeles, U.S.A.
visited Rome and San Giovanni Rotondo, St. Padre Pio's shrine without
expecting any special experience. Then, they visited Monte Sant'Angelo, a
church 20 km east of San Giovanni Rotondo, built in honor of St. Michael
the Archangel who had appeared there in 490, 492, and 493. When they
entered the church, they were pleasantly astonished to see the photographs
and explanations in Italian of the Eucharistic miracle through Julia Kim
in the Holy Father's chapel on October 31, 1995. It was a public display
of the Eucharistic miracles already officially approved in Church history.
The miracle in the Vatican on October 31, 1995 was displayed alongside the
miracles in Lanciano and other sites of authenticated Eucharistic
miracles. The Italian travel guide explained that such a display would not
be possible without the Holy See's permission, as the Holy Father himself
was involved in it. A Korean pilgrim to the same church in 2010 reported
that the same display still was there. When the pilgrims from Los Angeles
came back to Rome, they were surprised again to see a long TV program
titled "Miracoli" on a Catholic channel, which spent most of
the time on Naju. Again, this TV broadcasting must have been pre-approved
by the Holy See, as the program included the scenes of the Eucharistic
miracle witnessed by Pope John Paul II himself.
Our question is how and why the Kwangju Archdiocese in
Korea has completely ignored the above facts and did not ever consult with
Pope John Paul II especially about the miracle in the Vatican on October
31, 1995. How could they issue the declarations on Naju in 1998, 2001, and
2005 and the decree in January 2008 which threatened all pilgrims to Naju
with automatic excommunication, while completely ignoring the judgment and
advice of the Pope who had been so intently involved in the question of
Naju? Also, the beatification of John Paul II means that the Congregation
for the Causes of Saints examined every important fact of John Paul II's
life and reign and did not find any obstacle to proceeding with the
beatification. If one accepts the Kwangju Archdiocese's declarations and
decree, he would have to say that Blessed John Paul II zealously
accepted the false miracles of Julia Kim and, therefore, the beatification
was a mistake. Despite this problem, the Kwangju Archdiocese continues
insisting that their position on Naju is firmly supported by the Holy See,
showing their Korean translation of a letter from the CDF. The faithful
are more confused than ever.
5. The liberal priests in Korea have
distanced themselves from the
supernatural nature of the Catholic Faith and Church
Many of the young priests in Korea in the 1960s and 70s
were sent to Europe for further study so that they may be better prepared
as future leaders of the Church in Korea. Indeed, they studied with fervor
the teachings of Fr. Karl Rahner, Fr. Edward Schillebeeckx, Fr. Hans KŸng,
Fr. Teilhard Chardin, Fr. Leonardo Boff (of Brazil), and the like, and,
after their return home, they implemented what they had learned. To those
who have become infected with the modernist theology, the supernatural
nature of the Catholic Faith must be perceived old-fashioned, useless, and
even superstitious. They de-supernaturalized many things in the
Church in Korea to make them resemble more the Protestant ways under the
pretext of modernizing the Church and promoting unity with the separated
brethren. Thus, they even cast doubt on the Divinity of Our Lord Jesus
Christ and, accordingly, on the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist
and Virgin Mary's Divine Motherhood. Such trends have been especially
strong in the Kwangju Archdiocese. Even at the beginning of the messages
and miracles in Naju in 1985, the priests of the Kwangju Archdiocese were
already hostile and showed no interest in starting a sincere
investigation. This explains very well the reasons for the extremely
fierce and stubborn attitudes of the priests in Kwangju against Naju until
today. On March 13, 2003, Archbishop Andrew Chang-Moo Choi of the Kwangju
Archdiocse called Julia and Julio, her husband, to the education building
in Naju parish for an interview. During this meeting, Archbishop Choi said
that "the purpose of the investigation of Naju under Archbishop
Victorinus Youn was not to find out if the miracles there were true but to
see if they disturbed unity and pastoral activities in the Church".
Julia and Julio were startled to hear this, and Julio asked the Archbishop
if he really meant what he had just said. The Archbishop confirmed his
words. Fr. Luke Hong-Chul Song, who came to the Naju Parish as its Pastor
in February 2001, shouted that he would demolish the Blessed Mother's
chapel in Naju with a bulldozer. There have been many more
examples confirming that the real intention of the liberal priests at the
Kwangju Archdiocese has always been to completely get rid of Naju
regardless of its truthfulness. They frequently say during their homilies
in their parish churches and their private talks that Naju is a
heresy. In the official documents, on the other hand, they use a
different expression: "The phenomena in Naju have nothing to do with
the Church." The reason must be that they are unable prove that
Naju is a heresy according to the official teachings of the Church and the
Church Laws. Without their repentance and correction of their errors, it
would be quite difficult to work with them in the normal way. When they
say that what has been happening in Naju has no connection with the
Church, they must be very correct, if they are referring to the
kind of church that they prefer and have been busily building for the past
several decades. This is the true reality in Naju and in Korea that we
have to face. One must not be na•ve about it.
6. About Julia's urine
It was the first Saturday of October 2000 when Julia first
noticed some strange effects of her urine. When she urinated into a night
stool in her room, she noticed something looking like oil with different
colors floating on the urine. She had her urine examined at several
hospitals, but the doctors did not find any indication of problems. Julia
realized that applying her urine to the part of her body that was
dangerously painful even to the extent of her body curling up resulted in
the disappearing of the pain. Later, her urine was applied to her husband's
head, as he was suffering a severe pain in his head from a stroke of
blockage in the arteries on the top of his brain, which could have led to
death or paralysis of his body. After the application of Julia's urine,
Julio's stroke was healed and his health was restored. Sometimes her urine
showed little vibrations on the surface as if there was some energy in it.
Also a pleasant fragrance exuded from the urine. On January 1, 2002, the
Blessed Mother gave a brief private message to Julia: "As there is
nothing that your Savior, the Lord, cannot do, He gave you these beautiful
colors in your urine. This is a very special sign of love
showing that your Lord, together with this Mom, Who sustain you as a
person who are not shaken even when faced with difficulties, are working
in you and uniting with you." Julia strictly told her volunteer
helpers not to let anyone know about it. She firmly told them not to
reveal it until after her death. So, for more then seven years until late
2007, nobody knew about it except Julia, Julio, and a few volunteer
helpers.
Then, one young woman joined the volunteers in Naju, but
turned out to have some financial motives for being in Naju. When she
realized that she could not succeed in her financial ambition, she quit
and went to the Kwangju Archdiocese and told the priests a distorted story
about Julia's urine. The Kwangju priests were delighted and helped MBC TV
in Seoul to produce a new program and a DVD that would include a distorted
story about Julia's urine. This DVD included a dramatized scene of several
people sitting around a table in a darkened room and drinking from cups
that contained "Julia's urine" hoping that it would improve their
health. The display on the screen included a very small word: "재현".
which means dramatization,
but most of the people who watched this scene did not notice this word and
believed that this dramatization was a true reality. This DVD has spread
fast and wide all over the world. Many people, because of the distorted
false accusations in the DVD, have turned their backs against Naju even
including many priests. We have also learned that this DVD has been
presented to the Vatican, too. The volunteer workers in Naju prepared
their own DVD to fight the harmful effects of the DVD with distorted
contents, by showing the true facts of Julia's urine. By watching this new
DVD from Naju, many people have cleansed their minds from the ugly stains
from the misleading DVD, but there still are numerous people around the
world infected with the errors and keeping a distance from Naju.
Our understanding of Julia's urine is that its miraculous
phenomena are undeniable facts. If they are truly God's work, who can
complain about them? We believe that Julia's urine is so clean and
sometimes has beautiful colors and fragrance, because she has suffered so
much for so long, participating in the Lord's suffering for the conversion
of sinners, and, now, God is giving this to her as a little private gift.
This is probably related to other gifts that Julia has received such as
the miraculous fragrance that she always carries with her and the fragrant
oil that sometimes exudes from her head and neck. The phenomena on Julia's
urine are only a private gift and sign from the Lord. Julia did not ask
for it or seeks to publicize it. God is giving her this not as a subject
of our Faith or Devotions. Therefore, we must keep it where it belongs and
avoid magnifying it beyond the humble facts. To take advantage of it for
sensationalism or even as a convenient opportunity for unjustly damaging
Julia's reputation would be totally the opposite of God's Will.
7. Is Julia refusing to submit financial reports to the Kwangju
Archdiocese?
In the early years of the messages and miracles in Naju
since June 1985, Julia flatly refused to receive any money from the
visitors who came to see the weeping statue of the Blessed Mother.
Instead, Julia spent her own money to give free meals to some of the
visitors so that they could stay longer before the Blessed Mother's statue
instead of going out to buy meals. Afterwards, when several volunteer
workers came, she needed to accept some donations from the visitors to
cover the increased costs. Julia and Julio, her husband, deposited all
revenues from the donations in the bank account newly opened in the name
of the Pastor and withdrew money as needed with the Pastor's permission.
Detailed monthly reports were also presented to the Pastor. In 1991, a new
Pastor came and told Julio and Julia to stop bothering him with frequent
reports and requests for permissions. Since then, Julio and Julia only
presented their yearly reports to the Pastor, still keeping their family's
finance separate from the work for the Blessed Mother. From 1998, when the
first Declaration of the Kwangju Archdiocese was announced, they
discontinued the presentation of their financial reports to the Pastor,
because the number of pilgrims plummeted and donations almost totally
disappeared. The living costs for the volunteer workers were covered with
Julio's salary earned from his job at the City of Naju. In those years,
the financial conditions were so difficult that they even had to struggle
hard to pay for utilities.
On February 11, 2005, Julia and Julio received a letter
(dated February 4, 2005) from Archbishop Andrew Chang-Moo Choi, the
Ordinary of the Kwangju Archdiocese. In this letter, the Archbishop asked
Julia and Julio to present the financial reports to him by the Second
Sunday after Easter, which would be April 9, 2005. So, Julio was preparing
the detailed financial papers for presentation to the Archbishop, but soon
learned that Archbishop Choi had already sent another letter dated
February 4, 2005 to all of the dioceses in Korea, even before Julia and
Julio received the Archbishop's letter. In his letter to other dioceses,
the Archbishop criticized Julia for being disobedient to him and not
presenting the financial reports to him. Julio and Julia were very
perplexed and wondered if the Archbishop was not interested in receiving
the financial reports but only wanted to criticize and condemn Julia. On
May 5, 2005, Archbishop Choi announced the third Declaration on Naju.
Julio and Julia continue keeping the financial records and
are always ready to present the reports when requested by the Kwangju
Archdiocese. The most important thing, however, seems to be that the
Kwangju Archdiocese correct the intention and plan to destroy Naju
regardless of its truthfulness and conduct an objective and sincere
re-investigation of Naju so that an honest and correct conclusion may be
obtained. This way, mutual trust and cooperation will grow and strengthen
and all the problems and tasks including the financial reports will be
resolved and accomplished in the most amicable and efficient way.
8. Is Julia refusing to attend Mass
at Naju Parish Church?
In late spring of 2001, Fr. Luke Hong-Chul Song, Pastor of Naju,
informed Julio that Julia would be accepted back into the Church if
she confesses before the parishioners during a Sunday Mass that she has
been fabricating messages and miracles and promises that she would never
do such things again and also if she closes the Blessed Mother's Chapel
and the Blessed Mother's Mountain. Julia could not agree to these
conditions, because abandoning the messages and miracles and the
facilities for the visitors would be the same as refusing and deserting
the mission given to her by the Lord and the Blessed Mother and, thus,
betraying the Lord and the Blessed Mother and Their Will. So, for some
time, Julia fulfilled her Sunday obligations by praying at home (She could
not go to the Mass at other parish churches in the Kwangju Archdiocese,
because all other churches in the Kwangju Archdiocese were united with the
Naju Parish in their restrictions on Julia). When foreign priests came,
Julia attended Mass celebrated by them. Now, there are several priests in
Naju and offer Mass every day and hear Confessions. The opponents of Naju
have been falsely criticizing Julia for refusing to attend the Mass at
Naju Parish Church, which they themselves have prevented. The Pastor of
Naju not only made it impossible for Julia to come to the church in Naju but
also banned all of the pilgrims from entering the Naju parish church. Some
of the Japanese ladies who came to Naju were weeping outside the
church, because they were stopped at the gate. The pilgrims from
India and the U.S.A. including priests also experienced the similar
difficulties in the churches in the Seoul area.
Before the beginning of the messages and miracles in 1985,
Julia had asked the Lord to let her participate in the Lord's sufferings
for the conversion of sinners and her prayer was granted. Since then,
Julia has been suffering enormous physical pains and more pains from false
accusations and misunderstandings. The way of life that she has been
pursuing is not very popular in this age so self-centered and so removed
from loving and serving God and keeping His Commandments. But Our Lord
said that those who wish to follow Him must carry their own crosses.
Maybe, we should think more about the good possibility that those who
truly, willingly, and lovingly participate in the Lord's suffering for the
salvation of the world may be the ones who are dearest to Him. "The
souls who are elevated high on the Cross and offer themselves up
graciously as victims to the Lord are truly the souls who glorify the Lord
and are the little souls who are closest to me." (The Blessed
Mother, September 19, 1991)
When Archbishop Victorinus Youn announced the first
Declaration on Naju in January of 1998, Julia stopped meeting with
pilgrims and traveling to spread the messages, in order to obey the
restrictions mentioned in the Declaration. For seven and a half years
until May 2005, when the Kwangju Archbishop's 5th Declaration was
announced, she confined herself to a small upper room in her house and led
a life of seclusion and prayer. Archbishop Youn said that Julia had the
external obedience. In the 5th Declaration, however, it was
stated that "Naju has no connection with the Church" and
Julia finally realized that the Kwangju Archdiocese had no intention
whatsoever to conduct a sincere investigation but was only seeking to
destroy Naju. She thought that, if she continued her seclusion
indefinitely, she would be abandoning the mission given to her by the Lord
and the Blessed Mother and thus resumed meeting pilgrims and spreading the
messages. During every prayer meeting of the pilgrims in the vinyl chapel
on the Blessed Mother's Mountain, the Blessed Mother has shown the
miraculous signs of exuding fragrant oil from her statue and, sometimes,
tears and tears of blood, and thus confirmed that this work is not Julia's
but her own. In Naju, not only physical healings but also numerous
spiritual healings of restoring love, harmony, and unity in difficult or
broken families through forgiveness and prayers are occurring.
Despite all the current difficulties, we are not depressed
or lost the courage, because we know that Our Lady's victory had already
been predicted by God Himself (Gen. 3:15). Sr. Maria Natalia of Hungary
(1901-1992), who was a victim soul like Julia Kim and promoted the
devotion to the Victorious Queen of the World, saw the Holy
Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, bestowing
the Divine Power on the Blessed Mother for defeating the devil. The
Blessed Mother has told us that we have also been called and given the
mission to help the Blessed Mother as her little children and soldiers in
her defeating the devil and saving more souls. We, by ourselves, are too
weak and incapable, but, united with the Blessed Mother, our prayers and
other efforts will become more effective and precious in helping the
Blessed Mother defeat the devil and open the glorious New Era of Our Lord
in the Holy Eucharist reigning over all human hearts and the authentic
Catholic Faith and moral discipline finally prevailing throughout the
world.
We swear that all of the contents in this article are true
and accurate to the best of our knowledge.
Mary's Touch By Mail
Gresham, Oregon, U.S.A.
Photocopying this article to spread the
truths about Our Lady of Naju is permitted.
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