The Final Harvest

Summary

Eighteen years after the Virgin Mary began appearing daily in a remote mountain village in central Bosnia, Wayne Weible looks at what the apparitions have meant to the village and to the world. The village has changed. The young people to whom the Virgin Mary first appeared have grown up. Some have married and only three are still visited by the Blessed Virgin every day. Yet the cumulative impact of what is happening there--of what has been called the greatest supernatural event of modern times--continues to be responsible for the conversion and strengthened faith of literally millions around the world.

Prologue: The Most Important Event of Our Time	p. xi
Seeds
The Message	p. 3
Preparing the Way	p. 6
Seeds of a Miracle	p. 9
Good Soil	p. 18
The Planting	p. 26
Signs of Confirmation	p. 35
Storm Warning	p. 42
Planting
Nurturing Grace	p. 49
Cultivation	p. 59
Fertile Soil	p. 65
The Plan	p. 72
Growing Period	p. 76
The Heart of Medjugorje	p. 84
More Change	p. 87
A Time of Mercy	p. 94
Fruits
The Call	p. 103
Sons and Daughters	p. 115
Live My Messages	p. 124
Pilgrimage	p. 131
Fruits	p. 135
Answering the Call	p. 142
Storm
Crisis	p. 151
Dark Fruits of the Battle	p. 160
Martyr	p. 169
What Then Is My Suffering?	p. 175
Oasis of Peace	p. 180
Harvest
Response	p. 187
From Darkness to Light	p. 198
With Prayer	p. 205
The Good Fruits	p. 214
The Final Harvest	p. 223
Epilogue: The Final Mercy	p. 232
Selected Bibliography	p. 237
Index: Monthly Messages from 1987 to the Present	p. 239
Endnotes	p. 269
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

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Excerpts

Chapter One

The Message

The young Franciscan priest from Bosnia-Hercegovina stared blankly out the window as the plane approached the airport. It was the first week of May 1981, and the weather was nearly perfect. Normally, this would be a time of joy and anticipation as he prepared to attend an important international leader's conference of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Rome, Italy. At the moment, he only hoped the conference would rekindle the Holy Spirit flame within him that had strongly marked his brief priesthood.

The apathy of the people in his parish and surrounding parishes had brought Father Tomislav Vlasic to this discouraging point. He had come to his assignment at Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Capljina, filled with a fervor expressed well through a strong gift of preaching and a magnetic personality. As a result, the young priest had been invited to nearby villages to preach the message of the Gospels. But instead of spiritual conversion, he was met with indifference. Many young people did not attend Mass; work on Sundays was the norm. Families praying the rosary together seemed to be a thing of the past.

Tomislav came to the conference with one thought in mind: to seek help through the wisdom of two well-known members of the Charismatic Movement, Sister Briege McKenna and Father Emiliano Tardif. Both would be speakers at the conference. He wanted them to pray over him in hopes of discerning the answer to restoring his spiritual buoyancy and overcoming the resistance of the people at home.

Father Tomislav's prayers were answered, but in a way that far exceeded his expectations. Sister Briege McKenna, an Irish nun living in the United States, had a powerful healing ministry and a strong gift of prophecy. As she prayed over Father Tomislav, she began describing a vivid prophetic vision, telling him that she "saw him in a twin-towered church sitting in a chair and surrounded by a great crowd." There were streams of water flowing from beneath the chair out onto the people, she related, "streams of powerful healing water...."

Tomislav was deeply touched by the vision, but also confused. The only church he knew with twin towers was twelve miles away in the parish of Medjugorje. But he was happy, having received far more than he had anticipated through the encounter with Sister Briege. Surely, this was a sign that the people were finally going to respond to his ministry. What occurred next raised his spirits well above mere happiness, even though the young priest was not quite certain what it meant.

Also gifted with the charisma of a healing ministry, Father Emiliano Tardif, a French-Canadian presently stationed in Colombia, South America, came to Tomislav the following day. He also had prayed over him. Taking him aside and embracing him, he said, "My dear young friend, I have a wonderful message for you from Jesus. He says, `Don't worry, I am sending you my mother!'"

And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun,

with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars....

--REVELATION 12:1.