February 11, 2016 A.D.
10:00 am CST
Down to $9,909 To Go!!!
To Finish $100,000 Goal!
With your help and prayers, we are now below $10,000 with only $9,909 left to finish the 2016 Medjugorje.com $100,000 budget! Thank you for your continued support and prayers! Remember what sometimes happens to people lost at sea. They may swim for hours and when they see the rescue boat, they relax and drown. Our experience is that the last few funds are the hardest to raise, because everyone thinks “we’ve made it.” Do not relax; we are yet to get in the lifeboat, which is the goal. Thank you.
We want to share with you some of what your donations have done in the past budgets. Besides much of the behind-the-scenes development work, there are some areas that you have seen the fruit of, though you may not know what was behind it.
In the early years of Caritas, a Friend of Medjugorje had been documenting Medjugorje events, many events that he was personally a part of. He had documented almost 10,000 film photographs pertaining to Medjugorje and the Caritas Community life in its early days. Added to this were motion film sequences, from his work with ABC 20/20, which numbers are into the tens of thousands. It could be asked, aren’t millions of pictures taken of Medjugorje? Yes. Then what is so different with Caritas? The question then should be asked, “Do you think much of these items will survive?” St. John writes in the Bible, “There are many other things Jesus did…but, I do not think the whole world could contain the books that would be written.” Most of what Jesus did is not saved. Much of what is saved regarding Medjugorje is out in “cyberspace,” electronically archived, all of which could vanish in a moment. Much of what is physical will be lost. This is why we have thick concrete walled bank vaults for archiving. Many of the pictures of Medjugorje will be lost through the generations in times of wars, earthquakes, storms, neglect, persecution, and on and on. We do not just record at Caritas, we preserve for the Church, what the Church is not doing at this moment. That is why our motherhouse is called the:
Tabernacle of Our Lady’s Messages
A Repository of Our Lady’s
Medjugorje Apparitions
And History
A Friend of Medjugorje did a phased upgrade of our still camera equipment in 2002, and we were able to document Medjugorje with another 35,000 still images. In 2011, we upgraded our much-used camera equipment, increasing quality and speed for the many events that he was continuing to document for the future. One camera lens alone cost almost $10,000. As we mentioned earlier in this campaign, while some may be shocked by this price, no one is shocked when Hollywood spends the same amount for their work, which often draws people away from God. In documenting the most important event since Jesus walked the earth, should we not spend the same for the sake of those who will come in the future and never have a chance to witness this event themselves?
This lens seen above, is able to capture scenes close-up from a long distance. The following image of the Cross on Penitentiary Mountain at Caritas, was taken from 1 mile away, in the dark!
We do not necessarily put on Medjugorje.com, every image we capture, even some of the best ones. An image tells a story, that to just simply be “thrown” online, loses the narrative of what needed to be told. When we do make them public, the story they tell brings conversion of the heart. The following image taken during Ivan’s Prayer group apparition on June 24, 2011, immediately became one of the most iconic images ever taken in Medjugorje. Though it is copyrighted, our picture has been used by other Medjugorje sites, and placed in books and magazines. Meditate on this picture, taken in a fraction of a second, which likely may never be captured again. We should be reminded of the power that has come among us in the Medjugorje apparitions that once gone will never come again.
Your continued prayers and support bring conversion of the heart. Thank you from us and from Our Lady for participating actively in the most important event since Jesus walked the earth. For those who have donated, continue to pray for “others” to give, so that together with Our Lady, we may leave something for those who come after us, who will never get to experience what we have in this time. Thank you again!
You can click here to donate securely online…
he 65,000 square-foot Tabernacle of Our Lady’s Messages, the Caritas motherhouse in Alabama. TheTabernacle, is a repository of the Medjugorje message and history, and part of the operations behind Medjugorje.com.
