Young writer Martina Caffrey, M.A. in Theology, has specialised in Catholic writing over the last 10 years.
Her writings include work published in the Hibernian magazine and the Catholic Voice newspaper. She is author of the book “A Father’s Love” and is working on a follow-up book on the apparitions of Our Lady around the world. Her academic research is into the theology of the liturgy based on Pope Benedict XVI’s writings as Pope and Cardinal, with a further book in the pipeline.
Martina Caffrey reviews the Messages received by Christina Gallagher for the people of Ireland and the world, spanning the last 25 years, from Our Lady Queen of Peace and from Her Son Jesus.
For more than 25 years, God has done just this in Ireland through the apparitions of His Blessed Mother to Christina Gallagher. God is reaching out to us through the messages given to Christina, asking us to repent and turn back to Him. We have become comfortable in our daily lives having pushed God aside until we decide when and how we will turn to Him in times of need and trouble and we feel uncomfortable hearing of what will happen to us if we persist in our sins. Like a people in denial, we don’t want to be challenged to change our lives even if it will give us a better world in which to live and raise our children. We turn away and refuse to listen to those who wish to disrupt our comfortable existence. This has happened throughout the history of our faith and it continues to happen in our treatment of the modern prophets. Just as prophets have been attacked and rejected in the past, Christina Gallagher has been submitted to brutal and very personal attacks by the media and the people of Ireland. Christina is the messenger chosen by God to warn us of the consequences of our actions but we are in a state of denial in this country and throughout the world and we do not wish to hear the words of God which threaten the bubble we have built around us in which God does not have a role. These attacks on Christina fulfil the words of Jesus in the Bible when He too was rejected and attacked not only in character but also bodily by those in His hometown of Nazareth to whom He first chose to reveal Himself as the Word Incarnate, the Son of God. On that occasion He said that a prophet is always rejected in his own home (Luke 4: 24) and this has proven true, especially in Ireland, when the reaction to Christina Gallagher’s mission to bring the message of God given through Our Lady was made public. For over 25 years she has struggled to bring the messages given to her to the people of Ireland and the world, only to be met with derision, slander and violent abuse. In our modern world where the media and internet have become so dominant, it is through these mediums that the stones are being cast from a ‘safe’ and sometimes anonymous distance. How many of those who attack Christina has actually read the messages which they so loudly condemn? Instead of relying on hearsay and gossip and ‘casting the first stone’, should we not first look at the messages which have been given and continue to be given to Christina to ascertain whether God may actually be using her to reach out to us and show us that He loves us and is still very much an active presence in our lives? In another place in the Bible, Jesus advises us that we would know His messengers by their actions, by the fruits of their labours (Matthew 7: 17-18). By looking at the messages given to Christina Gallagher, we can see that God has upheld and continues to uphold the truth of His message given to us by Our Blessed Mother.
The Church’s position on private revelation states that the faithful are free to promote the messages as long as the content of the messages does not constitute a danger to faith and morals. In an examination of the messages given to Christina Gallagher, even a cursory glance will tell us that there is no danger within these messages and that there is in fact a strong theological and scriptural basis in the messages which point to the Truth of the apparitions. This is all the more evident when Christina’s life story is compared with the messages and we find it highly improbable that a relatively uneducated woman who left school early, barely able to read and write, could invent such theologically in-depth messages and knowledge as Christina has displayed on many an occasion. This is attributed to the grace of God who gives Christina infused knowledge on deeply theological matters which help to speak towards the divine origin of the apparitions and messages given to Christina. She has also the grace of being able to read souls, to see the state of that soul as God sees them, a gift which Padre Pio was also granted, and which has been demonstrated by Christina to many priests who have testified to its accuracy. The gift to the faithful of the messages from Our Lady is beyond measure as She has warned us of coming dangers to our bodies and souls which have been and will continue to be fulfilled in the future. She has also reminded us of the immense love and mercy which God the Father has for each one of us. Christina has often been criticised in the media for passing on messages of ‘doom and gloom’ which are claimed to show an angry, vengeful God and are given with the intent to scare people. A look at the messages published by Christina and her spiritual director, Fr. McGinnity, shows just how inaccurate this interpretation is by those who do not wish to understand. In the messages, we see a loving Mother pleading with Her children to repent and turn away from sin. They are messages of love and mercy which warn of the justice of God which will come upon us if we do not repent of our sins and turn back to God. The common theme of the messages given to Christina is to repent and turn away from sin, to turn back to God in prayer and fasting, to help others to turn to God and find their salvation and a warning that God’s justice will come on those who refuse to repent as sin and evil will be wiped away. God has given us free will to choose for ourselves and these messages are a plea from a loving Mother to choose wisely, to choose God rather than the Evil One.
Through a study of the messages given to Christina, it is evident that God is truly present here and that these messages are of divine origin. By looking at these messages in more detail, we can see several different ways in which the Truth of God shines through to help us to believe in the truth and authenticity of these messages.
Young writer Martina Caffrey, M.A. in Theology, has specialised in Catholic writing over the last 10 years. Her writings have included work published in the Hibernian magazine and the Catholic Voice newspaper. She is author of the book “A Father’s Love” and is currently working on a follow up book on the apparitions of Our Lady around the world. Her academic research is into the theology of the liturgy based on Pope Benedict XVI’s writings as Pope and Cardinal, with a further book in the pipeline.
