[ Home ] [ Messages and Signs ] [ In Defense of the Truth ] [ Saints ] [ Testimonies ] [ Ordering ]


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)).

 

  1. 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.


[ Home ] [ Messages and Signs ] [ In Defense of the Truth ] [ Saints ] [ Pilgrimages ] [ Testimonies ] [ Ordering ]

Webmaster: director@marys-touch.com

Copyright © 2018, Mary’s Touch By Mail. All rights reserved.