The follow was originally published by a Friend of Medjugorje on March 15, 2010. It is the conclusion of 26 years of scientific study. Science has clearly taken a stand that the visionaries are without deceit.
Latest Scientific Tests Prove Medjugorje Visionaries Without Deception!
Anew scientific release today is the cause of joy for all those who are devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Medjugorje apparitions. Our Lady identified Herself to the six visionaries as the Queen of Peace when She appeared to them in a village called Medjugorje, located in Bosnia-Hercegovina, which at the time the apparitions began, was still part of Yugoslavia. The daily apparitions began June 24, 1981 and remarkably continue to this day, March 15, 2010. The purpose of the Virgin Mary’s apparitions is to call a wayward world back to God, its Creator, and to become holy as He is holy. It is a loving and merciful call, but it is not without consequences for those who refuse to answer it. The Virgin’s call is for the conversion of the entire world, for the last time, to every man upon the earth without exception, for what at least two of the visionaries have said are the last apparitions on earth, for the history of the world. The reason they are the last, the visionaries say, is because with these apparitions of Mary there will never be a need for apparitions again where a visionary can see Her, talk to Her, and touch Her. Everything will be completed with these Medjugorje apparitions.
The latest series of scientific tests, which has been ongoing from the first years of the apparitions, provide something long awaited by those who have believed with faith that Our Lady is appearing to the visionaries of Medjugorje. It comes from data obtained through tests performed on June 25, 2005. No scientific test can prove the visionaries are seeing the Virgin Mary, but with most advanced testing of modern science, one thing can be supported by science; the “absence of deception.”
Throughout the history of the world, never have we been able to perform such sophisticated tests. Medieval tests included stabbing the person in ecstasy with a pin, drawing blood, to see if they would react. Though a medieval test, this test was performed on Vicka, one of the Medjugorje visionaries. A two-inch spot of blood appeared on her blouse which flowed from her back from a puncture made by a priest without her knowing he was going to do it. Vicka moved forward during the apparition from the force of the puncture, but did not flinch from the pain until the apparition was over. Still, this does not prove they are seeing something, in that psychological conditions could be manipulated to duplicate the same results. The tests performed in 2005, however, are different and actually prove there is no possibility for deception. The tests show, remarkably, that the visionaries do not transcend into an altered state, but rather they transcend into a deeper state of reality! The eternal life or after-life seen by them is more real than what they normally experience in the life of daily man. The depth of reality of what they experience when they see what they say they see is superior to any known reality of life on earth. Afterwards, they do not transcend to “ordinary reality.” They only return to a lesser state of the reality of life as we all know it. Through science, we now can say empirically, they are seeing something not of this world. What cannot be proven is what they are seeing. Their sincerity is what we depend upon. Their lives prove their sincerity.
Why is it important to look into scientific evidence when many believe with faith? An influential authority on international issues, Dinesh D’Souza, states in the January 2010 issue of The Catholic World Report:
“Empirical and scientific evidence puts us Christians on a level playing field with the skeptics and atheists. If we say that we believe in God and immortality on the basis of faith and the skeptics say they reject God and immortality on the basis of reason, who has the high ground? They do, of course. And the new atheists have successfully portrayed themselves as apostles of reason and science, as opposed to credulous believers. Some Christians allow them to get away with this; but I think it’s a mistake for us to concede reason and evidence to the atheists.
If we do we shouldn’t be surprised when our children go off to college and find themselves being convinced by the skeptics. Large numbers of young people who are raised Christian end up falling away from the faith because they don’t think that it makes sense to hold those views in the face of modern knowledge. But if we can show that rational evidence supports Christianity and immortality, then we have beaten the atheists at their own game. More broadly, we have vindicated Christian thinkers like Aquinas who insisted that reason and revelation don’t contradict each other but rather go together.”
We, at Caritas, have never concerned ourselves in regards to the Church approving Medjugorje. Our belief is so strong in Our Lady’s apparitions that we have confidence the Church will approve Medjugorje. In fact, Medjugorje is in every diocese of the world. The Mother Church would never have allowed something to get so big if it ultimately was going to be condemned. The fact that Medjugorje has not been approved is God’s plan. Few understand this. If Medjugorje had been approved, elements by some members of the Church would have crushed Our Lady’s messages and plans by now. One may respond, “But if it’s from God, He would save it from being crushed.” Yes, of course, and that is why Medjugorje has not been approved. It is why Medjugorje survives and thrives. As is, Medjugorje is free and within Canon Law the right is given for the faithful to follow these private revelations. Meanwhile, the mountain of evidence mounts in favor of Medjugorje and no one will be able to stop it.
It has been reported, though not officially confirmed by the Vatican, that Cardinal Camillo Ruini has been named to head a new Vatican led committee to investigate Medjugorje.* (This commission has since completed its work as of July 2015.) This new release of science that proves the visions are without deception will be scrutinized. Will the commission, therefore, approve Medjugorje soon? No, it will not. And it is God’s will it will not until Medjugorje’s Queen of Peace will be proven to every heart upon the earth who seeks truth. All the earth in chorus will approve Medjugorje. The Church will come later, baptizing what is born of God and will confirm that which has grown into a springtime for the Church.
What follows is the newest report of results from the latest scientific testing.
With Love,
The following was released to Medjugorje.com by Dr. Philippe Loron, colleague of Professor Henri Joyeux:
SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF ECSTASIES IN MEDJUGORJE
The scientific tests conducted in 1984 by Professor H. Joyeux and his medical team from Montpellier (France) have defined the ecstasies state of 5 teenagers, 2 boys and 3 girls, from the village of Medjugorje (Bosnia Herzegovina). These young people say they see, hear (and sometimes touch) the Virgin Mary, Who appears to them daily since June 25, 1981 (a sixth girl didn’t have the apparition on such a regular basis since 1982).
The electroencephalograms, performed on three of them, have recorded alpha rhythm on the whole brain during the ecstasies, while their look is captured by the apparition.
These examinations capture, on the surface of the scalp, minimal electricity produced by the activity of brain cells. The alpha rhythm (between 8 and 13 Hertz) is a normal rhythm of wakefulness, mainly of rest. It occurs essentially in the posterior regions of the brain when the eyes are closed. Similar results are usually obtained when listening to soothing music or when one is in a state of contemplation, meditation or prayer, especially with eyes closed. It also corresponds to the intermediate state between wakefulness and the first stage of sleep: when one relaxes with the light off, but is not yet asleep.
Therefore, in Medjugorje, the results are remarkable since, especially with Marija, the alpha rhythm occurs preferentially at the moment of ecstasy with a tendency to spread to anterior regions of the brain, while the eyes remain open and oriented towards the apparition.
This data, which are a “world first”, coupled with the ocular behavior (the look changes as soon as the ecstasy begins with a remarkable fixity, absence of blinking to the threat of light, with a certain convergence of the eyes) and synchronism when the young are together (kneeling, beginning of central prayer aloud, fixity – verified by simultaneous recordings – then raising of the eyes at the end) discard any possibility of deception, as well as sleep, dreams, epilepsy, or mental confusion.
The ecstatic are, therefore, in a very specific, but non-pathological state of disconnection with the surrounding world and extraordinary receptivity of the brain, where the sight and hearing of a presence from beyond doesn’t transit through neurological usual senses. The return to the ordinary state takes place without any transition.
Any hysteria or catalepsy may in any case be excluded from the consistent behavior of intense prayer during ecstasy (many videos available), as well as from several individual neuropsychological tests, that have always concluded that they were normal, healthy body and mind.
Other scientific studies (especially Italian) performed on them didn’t include such an approach of their brain functionality, and, therefore, can’t define this kind of religious ecstasy.
Of course, science can’t demonstrate that these are apparitions of the Virgin Mary. But it can support the absence of deception and the very probable sincerity of those ecstatic (they perceive the divine world of the afterlife as being more real than our earthly world).
On 25 June 2005, Professor Henri Joyeux repeated the neurophysiologic tests on two of them, including Marija, with a Parisian neurologist. The recording session was entirely filmed until Marija’s transcript of the message (she receives one every 25th of the month, in this case here, on the anniversary of the beginning of the apparitions).
More than 20 years later, the results are similar. (Tests conducted in 1984 and tests conducted in June 2005 resulted in similar conclusions.)
A new book will take up these two studies with clear conclusions.