Correct appreciation of the genuine miracles and messages will be possible only when one is humble and faithful before God

All four Evangelists report in their Gospels numerous miracles that Our Lord performed during the three years of His public mission for the purpose of visibly confirming the divine origin of His mission. St. John informs us that what he recorded in his Gospel (including the miracles) was only a small portion of what the Lord did: "There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written" (John 21:25). St. Mark also says in the last chapter of his Gospel that the miracles continued while the Apostles were spreading the Lord's messages after the Lord's Ascension: "But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs" (Mark 16:20). From the Lives of the Saints, we learn that the miraculous signs from God have not ceased throughout the 2,000 years of Church History as the most credible visible confirmation of the supernatural origin of the Lord's teachings being spread by the faithful members of His Church.

The miracles performed by Our Lord and His disciples are signs of the supernatural presence and power of God that are specially manifested at the natural level so that they may be comprehensible to humans. Even without miracles, humans can comprehend and accept supernatural truths, if they have faith and a healthy fear of God, allowing their souls to be enlightened by the supernatural grace from God. In other words, without faith and humility and grace from God, humans cannot correctly recognize or embrace any gifts from God including miracles. To receive and nurture this virtue of faith, a human person must begin and sustain the process of continual conversion, in which he can practice and strengthen his good habit of humbly recognizing and appreciating his own status as a creature of God and sincerely repenting his sins and making reparation for them through prayers, good works, and sacrifices. Those who are proud and resistant to the life of conversion will have difficulty in recognizing the true meaning and value of the miracles and other gifts from God. It is the official Church teaching that all the faithful are obligated not to neglect or despise the true miracles but to humbly learn the lessons contained in them.

Teachings of the First Vatican Council 1869-1870

In order that the "obedience" of our faith should be "consonant with reason", God has willed that to the internal aids of the Holy Spirit there should be joined external proofs of His revelation, namely: divine facts, especially miracles and prophecies which, because they clearly show forth the omnipotence and infinite knowledge of God, are most certain signs of a divine revelation, and are suited to the intelligence of all (DS #3009).

If anyone shall have said that miracles are not possible, and hence that all accounts of them, even those contained in Sacred Scripture, are to be banished among the fables and myths; or, that miracles can never be known with certitude, and that the divine origin of the Christian religion cannot be correctly proved by them: let him be anathema (DS #3034)

Those who despise the genuine miracles and yet are unable to deny the facts of them usually choose to slander those who receive them

With regard to the miracles and messages received by Mrs. Julia Kim in Naju, Korea, there seem to be three categories of responses: (1) There are those who are well aware of what really is going in the Church concerning Naju and stand firm in obeying God instead of obeying men (cf. Acts 5:29). They do not fear the eyes or criticisms of others in visiting Naju, attending the prayer meetings there, or spreading the information about Naju; (2) There are many others who accept the truthfulness of Naju but are hesitant to join the pilgrims, saying that they will quietly continue waiting for the official approval of Naju; (3) There also are those who are badly shaken by hearing some negative rumors about Naju and become seriously doubtful or turn against Naju. Most such rumors have been spread by the liberal priests in Gwangju and they seem to have reached even some of the high officials in the Vatican through the opposing clergy's written reports, DVD, and visits. Some examples of the negative rumors about Naju are:

1. "Julia Kim and the volunteer helpers in Naju are selling the water from the Blessed Mother's spring". The accusers even included in a DVD (made in 2007) the scene of a visitor to the spring in Naju giving money to a man. This man, however, had no connection with Naju, but was an employee of a shipping company which delivered the water to any location in Korea. This company charges a fee for shipping and has no financial obligation to Naju. The water from the Blessed Mother's spring has never been sold. All the visitors to Naju so far would be witnesses to this.

2. "Julia and the volunteer helpers in Naju are selling her urine". The opponents of Naju even included in a DVD a staged scene of several people sitting around a table and drinking what was supposed to be Julia's urine for physical healing. The unusual phenomena with Julia's urine such as physical healing, fragrant oil floating on her urine, and fragrance of roses from the urine were first noticed in 2000. Julia wanted to keep this as a strict secret fearing reckless sensational reactions. This secret was well kept for seven years. Then, one of the volunteer helpers had a personal complaint and went to the priests in the local diocese and gave them some distorted story about Julia's urine. This was how the rumor began floating around and the priests of the Gwangju Archdiocese gladly included the fabricated story in their DVD. Because many people were becoming curious about her urine, the volunteer helpers in Naju decided to make their own DVD explaining the true facts about it and thus repel the fabricated rumors. The slanderous DVD has been distributed all over Korea and the world totally overwhelming the compensating effects of the other DVD. Numerous people around the world still remain misinformed about this issue. It is a preposterous accusation to say that Julia is promoting or distributing her urine even for money or fame, which is what Julia tries to avoid at all costs. Until now, it has only been Julia herself and her husband who have used this urine, which was revealed to them to be an instrument for their own healing. It has relieved the severe pains they sometimes feel in their heads. Julio was even healed of a stroke. They are being extremely careful to prevent the spread of the false rumors that can harm the Lord's cause.

3. "Julia is not presenting her financial reports to the Church". This is another false and evil accusation. In the early years, Julia and Julio were diligently submitting their financial reports to the Pastor of Naju. They continued doing so even after a new pastor came. Later, the new Pastor ordered Julia and Julio to discontinue presenting their financial reports to him as he was too busy to examine them month after month. In 2001, Archbishop Andrew Choi became the new Ordinary of the Archdiocese. He asked Julia and Julio to submit the financial report before a deadline. Several days before the deadline, however, the Archbishop mailed a letter to all other dioceses in Korea accusing Julia of not presenting her financial reports. It seemed as though the Archbishop was interested not in seeing the financial reports but only in publicly accusing Julia of a mistake that she did not make. Julia and Julio continue keeping detailed financial records and are ready to present them to the parish or diocese whenever requested.

4. "Julia is not coming to the Mass at Naju Parish Church." Julia has been accused as being proud and refusing to attend the Mass at the Naju Parish Church. Nothing can be farther from truth than this. Julia and Julio have always been most faithful members of the Naju Parish, attending Mass every day and participating in many of the services at the parish. In 2001, the Pastor of Naju informed Julio and Julia that they would be allowed to come to the parish church only if Julia confessed during a Sunday Mass that she had been fabricating the messages and miracles and promised that she would never do so again. This was like asking Julia to betray Our Lord and the Blessed Mother in order to be accepted into the church. The Pastor was asking Julia to commit a most serious mortal sin to be allowed to come to church. Since then, the priests of the Gwangju Archdiocese have been spreading the rumor that Julia is so proud that she refuses to attend the Mass in the Parish church. This is not fair or just, especially for the shepherds of the Church to act so cruelly to a powerless and lowly laywoman. The church belongs to God first before it belongs to the bishops and priests. Without knowing the actual situation, many people are criticizing and rejecting Julia as a deceiving false visionary and an evil person.

5. "They are celebrating the Mass in Naju without the Archbishop's permission." There had been no Mass in the Blessed Mother's Chapel or on her Mountain in Naju for almost twenty years in obedience to the Bishop and also because Julia, volunteer helpers, and pilgrims could freely attend the Mass in the parish church. Also, for five years after the first Declaration on Naju announced on January 1, 1998, Julia lived in a tiny second-floor room in her house, not meeting any of the pilgrims and to obey the restrictions stated in the Declaration. In the fall of 2003, Julia finally decided that she could no longer neglect the mission given to her by the Lord and the Blessed Mother to spread the messages and resumed seeing and speaking to the pilgrims. She could extend her secluded life longer, if there was any hope that the Archdiocese would some day conduct an honest investigation. But it became very clear that the liberal priests of Gwangju surrounding the Archbishop had no intention whatsoever to conduct an objective investigation of Naju. Their only intention was to block and destroy Naju and bury it permanently. Whether the messages and miracles in Naju were true or not was totally outside their interest. One of the priests even said that he would gladly demolish the Blessed Mother's Chapel with a bulldozer. This way, the Gwangju Archdiocese was fighting God Himself, as they have been blocking the work that God has been doing. They could justly stop Naju only if it becomes objectively clear that what has been happening in Naju was not God's work. It seems that they want to continue to be the lords of the Church instead of obeying their superiors in the Church and God. It is no surprise that many of the opposing priests in Korea are deeply into the radical version of Liberation Theology. Some of them are even members of the heretical "We Are Church" group that started in Austria. In Korea, these ultra-liberal priests are enormously powerful.

Also in the spring of 2008, Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, sent an official letter to the Archbishop of Gwangju saying: "As what is happening in Naju is considered a private revelation, the restrictions on the pilgrims as well as those on Fr. Aloysius Chang should be lifted. Fr. Chang can celebrate Mass." When a volunteer helper of Naju asked one of the priests in Gwangju about this letter, he admitted that the Archdiocese did receive it, but they have never revealed the contents. In other words, the Gwangju Archdiocese ignored and disobeyed the instruction from Cardinal Dias, who had the highest pastoral authority delegated by the Pope over the entire Catholic Church in Korea. To comply with Cardinal Dias' instruction, the Gwangju Archdiocese should have made a public announcement that it was lifting the restrictions on Naju stated in the Declaration of January 1, 1998, but they have never done so. In the Decree of January 2008, the Gwangju Archdiocese even announced that any person in the world who visits Naju would be subject to automatic excommunication. This announcement also should be considered invalid by the same instruction of Cardinal Dias.

In addition, in April 16, 2005, two Sacred Hosts came down during the Mass celebrated by Fr. Pete Marcial from the Philippines in the vinyl chapel on the Blessed Mother's Mountain and this was witnessed by more than 250 pilgrims present in the Mass. Then, on May 6, 2005, the same two Sacred Hosts bled in the ciborium in the room where Fr. Marcial was staying. Actually, during every prayer meeting and Mass in Naju, some miraculous signs have occurred such as the fragrant oil exuding from the Blessed Mother's statue, the Precious Blood of Our Lord came down on some of the pilgrims, the fragrant oil coming down in the vinyl chapel and at other locations. These miracles would not have occurred at the locations of the prayer meeting and the Mass, if the prayer meetings and Masses there were in conflict with the Lord's Will. Of course, this does not mean that unity with and obedience to the Bishop and priests are not important. Julia and others in Naju continue praying hard for the restoration of a normal relationship with the Gwangju Archdiocese. However, as long as the officials in the Archdiocese only insist on everybody's blind acceptance of their condemnation of Naju not based on any credible reasons and thereby continue their defiance to God, it will not be possible to form unity and harmony.

6. "Julia and her followers are disobedient to the Church". The official position of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the CDF) on Naju has been "Non constat de supernaturalitate" which simply means that the Church is waiting to make a final decision on whether or not the events in question are worthy of belief. By this statement, the Church allows the faithful's free access to the place of the miracles and also allows priests to provide the pilgrims with pastoral care such as Masses and Confessions, as the Church needs to continue observing the fruits before reaching the final conclusion. In its first Declaration on Naju announced on January 1, 1998, however, the Gwangju Archdiocese condemned Naju ("constat de non supernaturalite"), which clearly contradicts the CDF's official position, based on serious doctrinal problems in their Declaration, and has been persecuting those faithful who refuse to blindly accept the contents of the Declaration. In other words, anyone who refuses to accept the Declaration and, thus, does not condemn the messages and miracles in Naju would be considered guilty of disobedience to the Church. It would be a most miserable betrayal of the mission that the Lord has given to the Church and her shepherds to coerce the faithful to betray their conscience and our faith. The Gwangju Archdiocese's accusing Julia and others of disobedience to the Church based on their refusal to accept their negative judgment of the events in Naju cannot be justified. It would be a sin and defiance to God to force others to think and act against their conscience and faith.

7. "The Holy See's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has been supporting the position of the Gwangju Archdiocese on Naju." This is what the liberal priests of the Gwangju Archdiocese have been asserting all along. Does it mean, then, that the CDF approves the doctrinal errors in the Gwangju Declaration and consents to the Gwangju Archdiocese's refusal to conduct scientific tests and witness interviews as well as to the harsh treatment of the pilgrims? The correct answer cannot be "Yes". The CDF officials have made a number of sincere efforts to persuade the Gwangju Archdiocese and the Korean Bishops' Conference without good results yet. It sometimes appears that the CDF is seeking a just resolution without causing any damage to the dignity and authority of the Gwangju Archdiocese. It is our opinion that the only right way for someone to avoid losing his dignity or authority is to restore his integrity by admitting and courageously correcting all the past mistakes and being truly and humbly faithful to carrying out the missions and responsibilities that God has entrusted to him. There cannot be any real shame in correcting one's past errors and mistakes. The shame does exist only where the errors and mistakes are being kept on or covered up to the painful detriment of countless people.

The Blessed Mother continues suffering much, but her triumph has been assured. That may be why she also sheds fragrant oil, a sign of hope and joy, through her statue. The question of "How soon?" depends on the degree of her children's cooperation.

Mary's Touch By Mail
Gresham, Oregon, USA
August 15, 2012