Apparition Hill - Update

Members of the Sacred Space Team were blessed to attend the first showings of Apparition Hill in Ireland yesterday and we can honestly say that it lived up to and exceeded every one of our expectations. It is a beautifully documented account of the journey of seven strangers to the small village of Medjugorje and what they experienced there and afterwards. The documentary is both poignant and honest. It allows the cast and their questions and life stories take centre-stage. It is well-worth a look, whether you believe in Medjugorje or not, whether you are a believer or an unbeliever, even if you are simply curious about the phenomena of miracles and apparitions.

The Omniplex, Dooradoyle, Limerick, will be showing Apparition Hill at the following times during the week:

Saturday, October 8th - 18.10

Sunday, October 9th - 18.10

Monday, October 10th - 15.30 and 18.10

Tuesday, October 11th - 15.30 and 18.10

Wednesday, October 12th - 15.30 and 18.10

Thursday, October 13th - 15.30 and 18.10

Tickets and booking information is available at www.omniplex.ie If you plan on attending, we do recommend that you book your tickets online as it is a small cinema and you don't want to be disappointed!

Details of a recent interview we held with Sean Bloomfield and Cimela Kidonakis are below:

The Sacred Space Team were delighted to interview Sean Bloomfield (Director Producer) and Cimela Kidonakis (Producer/DP) about their new documentary Apparition Hill which opens in Omniplex Cinemas on October 7th (The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary).  Apparition Hill is, as the tagline says, "a film about life... and what comes after." A film crew offered 7 free trips to a place of alleged miracles, Medjugorje, a little-known village nestled in between two mountains along the border of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia to film their experiences. Medjugorje has been a hotbed of debate as millions visit the town each year to see for themselves whether the legend is true: that Mary, the actual Mother of Jesus, has appeared to a select group of natives with regularity for the last 30 years. As of yet, the Catholic Church has declared no official ruling one way or another. The winners of the online video contest embarked on a journey seeking answers to life's questions. 

Sean and Cimela share with us about their own experiences of Medjugorje, the video contest and the filming process. It is a truly moving account of what happens when you bring 7 strangers together to try to find answers to the questions we are all asking. The beauty of the documentary is it's completely unbiased view on whether or not Our Lady is truly appearing in the little village of Medjugorje. As Sean says in the trailer: "Medjugorje is either the greatest miracle since Jesus walked the earth or its the biggest hoax in the history of mankind." 

If you would like to find out more about the 7 winners of the video contest, their application videos are available HERE. So what happened next? Did they find the answers they were seeking? Is Medjugorje a place of miracles? You will have to watch the documentary to find out! 

Brother Daniel Maria Klimek described Apparition Hill as "one of the most powerful films I have ever watched in my life, and I know that no words – no matter how eloquent or beautiful – would be sufficient to truly capture the awe-inspiring and breathtaking prowess of this movie." (Br. Daniel's full review is available HERE - it is well worth a read). 

Apparition Hill runs from October 7th to 13th. Whether you believe in Medjugorje or not, whether you are a believer or an unbeliever, even if you are simply curious about the phenomena of miracles and apparitions, you will find this documentary to be very moving. It is literally changing lives all over the world, and it has an opportunity to go to the Oscars! Throughout the last few months, several members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences® have been deeply touched by Apparition Hill. Read more about this HERE. To find out more about the film and its crowd-funding initiative HERE.

2nd October 2016 - Apparition Hill - 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

On this week's programme we hear all about a great new documentary which is coming to the Omniplex Cinemas in Ireland (and here locally in Dooradoyle, Limerick) from October 7th for a one-week run (so far!). We also have our local notices and our celestial guides for the coming week. You can listen to this week's full programme podcast HERE.

Apparition Hill

The Sacred Space Team were delighted to interview Sean Bloomfield (Director Producer) and Cimela Kidonakis (Producer/DP) about their new documentary Apparition Hill which opens in Omniplex Cinemas on October 7th (The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary).  Apparition Hill is, as the tagline says, "a film about life... and what comes after." A film crew offered 7 free trips to a place of alleged miracles, Medjugorje, a little-known village nestled in between two mountains along the border of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia to film their experiences. Medjugorje has been a hotbed of debate as millions visit the town each year to see for themselves whether the legend is true: that Mary, the actual Mother of Jesus, has appeared to a select group of natives with regularity for the last 30 years. As of yet, the Catholic Church has declared no official ruling one way or another. The winners of the online video contest embarked on a journey seeking answers to life's questions. 

Sean and Cimela share with us about their own experiences of Medjugorje, the video contest and the filming process. It is a truly moving account of what happens when you bring 7 strangers together to try to find answers to the questions we are all asking. The beauty of the documentary is it's completely unbiased view on whether or not Our Lady is truly appearing in the little village of Medjugorje. As Sean says in the trailer: "Medjugorje is either the greatest miracle since Jesus walked the earth or its the biggest hoax in the history of mankind." 

If you would like to find out more about the 7 winners of the video contest, their application videos are available HERE. So what happened next? Did they find the answers they were seeking? Is Medjugorje a place of miracles? You will have to watch the documentary to find out! 

Brother Daniel Maria Klimek described Apparition Hill as "one of the most powerful films I have ever watched in my life, and I know that no words – no matter how eloquent or beautiful – would be sufficient to truly capture the awe-inspiring and breathtaking prowess of this movie." (Br. Daniel's full review is available HERE - it is well worth a read). 

Apparition Hill runs from October 7th to 13th. Whether you believe in Medjugorje or not, whether you are a believer or an unbeliever, even if you are simply curious about the phenomena of miracles and apparitions, you will find this documentary to be very moving. It is literally changing lives all over the world, and it has an opportunity to go to the Oscars! Throughout the last few months, several members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences® have been deeply touched by Apparition Hill. Read more about this HERE. To find out more about the film and its crowd-funding initiative HERE.

As we go to press, the showing times are not available for our local Omniplex (Dooradoyle, Limerick), but check out www.omniplex.ie from  Tuesday, October 4th to find out all the details (and bring all your friends!).

My Heart Will Triumph

Sean was also helped to write the auto-biography of one of the visionaries, Mirjana Soldo. Mirjana was only 16 years old when she and five other children saw a mysterious young woman on a remote hillside in the village of Medjugorje, then part of Yugoslavia. The woman - who possessed a beauty and grace that seemed to come from beyond - identified herself as the Virgin Mary. The apparitions that began on the afternoon of June 24, 1981 would dramatically change Mirjana’s life and the lives of countless people around the world. This auto-biography gives an excellent insight into Mirjana's personal experiences of the apparitions and her struggles under communism. It is receiving five star reviews on Amazon and is a real page-turner. If you would like to find out more about Mirjana's book HERE (it is also available from The Book Depository HERE or Amazon HERE).

You can listen to Sean and Cimela's interview excerpted from the programme HERE.

Gospel - Luke 17:5-10

The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith’.

The Lord replied, ‘Were your faith the size of a mustard seed you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea”, and it would obey you.

‘Which of you, with a servant ploughing or minding sheep, would say to him when he returned from the fields, “Come and have your meal immediately”?  Would he not be more likely to say, “Get my supper laid; make yourself tidy and wait on me while I eat and drink. You can eat and drink yourself afterwards”? Must he be grateful to the servant for doing what he was told? So with you: when you have done all you have been told to do, say, “We are merely servants: we have done no more than our duty”.’

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Words on Fire
English Dominicans
Sunday Reflections
Centre for Liturgy

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours - psalter week 3 - 27th week in ordinary time

Saints of the Week
October 3rd - Blessed Columba Marmion
October 4th - St. Francis of Assisi
October 6th - St. Bruno
October 7th - Our Lady of the Rosary

Why Medjugorje matters - Crux

In the early 1980s, six children in the Yugoslavian town of Medjugorje reported seeing visions of the Virgin Mary. Since that time, millions of people have made the pilgrimage to Medjugorje and countless others still follow messages attributed to the Virgin Mary that are revealed by the original seers.

This summer, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) completed its investigation of the apparitions at Medjugorje and submitted its findings to Pope Francis. While rumors have long swirled that the report on Medjugorje will be negative, no one — to my knowledge — has gone on record confirming a negative judgment.

And so a full accounting will have to wait until the CDF report is made public.

The story of Medjugorje is complex and complicated. It involves not only claims of supernatural occurrences, but also Catholic infighting and allegations of scandal. Celebrations of miracles exist alongside suspicions of fraud, and the continuing popularity of Medjugorje has raised difficult spiritual and administrative questions for three different popes.

But why does Medjugorje matter?

If you ask different Catholics, you will get wildly different answers.

 
Continue reading here.

3rd April 2011 - 4th Sunday in Lent

Apologies for the delay in getting the details of this weeks show up for our regular readers!

On this weeks show John and Colin discuss a charity for elderly home care in Medugorje, we have our regular reflection on the weekly gospel; this week looking at the healing of the man born blind, a quick look at the saints of the coming week and some local announcements.

Charity - St Lukes Home Care

Double click on the picture to open it in another window to read.

John and Colin discuss their encounter with Jane Dowd who has set up a charity called St Luke's Homecare which provides outreach and aid to elderly and poor people around the village of Medugorje and gives assistance to them through working with locals to help them with their basic needs and also helping to employ local nurses.

If you would like to contribute to this outreach work you can contact Eileen Giltenane at Giltenane's Pharmacy in Rathkeale 069 63437


Gospel - John 9: 1-41

This weeks gospel is a continuation of a themetic gospel from John during Lent. It is another arch-type gospel where the anonymous person in dialogue with Jesus represents themselves and also represent us as we can associate with the people involved.

The man born blind represents both physical and spiritual blindness relating to Jesus at the time and blindness to Jesus in our world today. It is a very symbolic gospel with baptism like last weeks gospel with the Woman at the Well which is important link for those preparing to be received into the church at Easter - light and water, symbols of new life in Christ. We have a man born blind but through his suffering as a blind person in life can "see" and "know" much more than those who have eyes to see.

The story of the blind man is one of hope for us in our spiritual journey as it is a progression in terms of recognising who Jesus is. The blind man first sees him as a man, then a prophet and finally in a recognition of faith sees him as Lord. It is a call to us all to discover where are we blind? Do we see our neighbour? The begger at the ATM? The person we dont have time for? Have we time to examine where are our blind spots are? The journey of the blind man also reminds us that the journey to encounter God is a gradual process which takes time to develop and work on.

The spiritual blindness of the pharisees is a challange to us all. Are we pharisees who dont have time to "see" the Lord and recognise him? Are we doubters afraid of letting Jesus through the shield that we set up around ourselves and recognising him as God? The questions posed by the Pharisees - What do you have to say about Him? A huge challange to us, what do we have to say about Jesus and do we have the courage to say it?

Further reflections on this weeks gospel from Sunday Reflections, Word on Fire, Godzdogz, Salt & Light Blog.

Saints of the Week

April 4th - St Isidore of Seville, patron of the Internet
April 5th - St Vincent Ferrer OP
April 6th - Bl Michael Rua SDB
April 7th - St John Baptist de la Salle
April 8th - St Julie Billiart - founder of the Sisters of Notre Dame
April 9th - St Mary of Egypt

Thanks for listening!

All the team at Sacred Space 102fm