I came across this lady on utube and became interested in her as a purported visionary and mystic and would like to write a little on what I prayerfully think of this. For a start here is a potted bio of Emma: 'Emma De Guzman is a slight, radiant widow who glows with good health. She has three children and three grandchildren and emigrated from the Philippines in 1986. She lives in Bloomsbury, NJ with her daughter and two grand-children. Their home is an open center where people from the mid-Atlantic, the north-east and various parts of Ontario gather for prayer before the altar formed by several shelves of statues'. Emma's range of purpoted mystical activity is simply staggering. She claims to met a huge range of saints, such as Maria De Pazzi and Pope John Paul 2 and engaged in intimate conversations with them, she claims to be a stigmatic, to have seen the angels and Our Blessed Lady, to have met numerous souls in purgatory who come to ask her intercession ( she mentions that they tell her the date of their deaths 1602, 1820 and so on and what they were when alive and so on) and on and on the endless list of mystical prodigies goes; so much so that if even half of them are true there can be little or no doubt that Emma is indeed the greatest living mystic of modern times; ideen very arguably the greatest mystic of all times. She is very much a lady to be taken seriously , according to her own web site (and I have no reason to doubt this), she claims to have many Bishops and priests amonst her devotees and a very widespread net work of prayer groups and to have built up a very large collection of followers and supporters indeed. So Emma's is no fly by night or whole in the wal operation, it is a very serious operation indeed. I think the first thing about approaching mystical phenomena is to do so with a very open mind. There are two texts I think that are very valuable in how we do so. 'In cases which concern private revelations, it is better to believe than not to believe, for, if you believe, and it is proven true, you will be happy that you have believed, because our Holy Mother asked it. If you believe, and it should be proven false, you will receive all blessings as if it had been true, because you believed it to be true.' Urban VIIi Though whether or not Urban VIII said this is debated............Pope Urban VIII did make a public statement about private revelations and their dissemination in the Catholic Church in his Constitution, Sanctissimus Dominus Noster of 13 March 1625.
Well- I am so thrilled to have gone to her website and checked her out. Here is a little tidbit of hope and joy she gave me from a message she recieved last year from our Mother.... …`The world is walking in darkness. I ask you to pray more and more. Through the prayers of my little children, the shadow of darkness is removed. I am calling my children who are faithful and love my Son, to go to the highways and the by-ways to spread the faith. Trust in Him. Let the will of God be done in you; not your will, my children. When the will of my Son reigns in your land, the years 2011 – 2015, a change in your country for the better will occur. This is a grace and blessing that will come from my Son. The heavens will open and light will shine upon your land. I am your Mother who will always be with you. I will bring all your prayer intentions to heaven. All the religious articles, especially the rosaries, are blessed. My presence will always be with every rosary you hold and pray. This special soul you know is with me in heaven. I love you my dear children. Thank you for listening to my message”. I am hopeful- I dare not say more than that, that God plans to offer us our sign in the next year. Happy Thanksgiving, Kath
You put your finger on one of many things that caused me concern about Emma, Kathleen. For instance for the Phillipines she forecasts that a young man will take power there in the near future and bring the Phiipines to a long period of great prosperity. This militates so much against other Catholic current Prophecy as to mouth opening. It reminds me of scriptural references surrounding the fall of Jerusalem when false Propets assured the King in Pollyany-ish fashion that Jerusalem would NOT fall when in fact it did: ”From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them," says the LORD. – Jeremiah 6:13-15 (NIV) Jeremiah lamenting the fall of Jerusalem , Rembrant Exalted Pollyanna-ism is so much a part of Emmas teaching as to be almost a hallmark. ( by the way the life of the Prophet Jeremiah is available to watch on utube in nine parts and I give the link below. It is very entertaining and interesting. Its worth while paying attention to the activities of the False Prophets} cf However with so much Prophesy in which I can place no credence such as Emma's I find it interesting because, to me it appears to be assisted by the devil, which I think is not so usual..and more than that assisted by the devil in quite a powerful fashion, which leads me to strongly suspect Emma of being, effectively a witch. I am always interested in such things, especially as to where in the case of Emma such praternatural phenomena seem very powerful and to the unwary, convincing. Anyway a few years ago a Canadian documentary crew filmed Emma and her folowers and it is so interesting to watch as a case study of false mysticism, false no matter how dramtic and apparently (for some) convincing: The documentary is quite lenghty, going on for two hours and is all available to watch on utube; this part concerns and apparent apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary; filmed live:
Dear brother Padraig, First and foremost I believe in Emma's authenticity. The local Archbishop who is B. Arguelles, along with other followers have experienced the supernatural phenomena with Emma. For instance, the showering of golden glitters out of nowhere, assisted handwriting in Greek language when receiving messages without looking at the paper where she is writing, and the vision of Our Lady among selected devotees at the mountain of salvation in the Philippines. On the other hand, it is incorrect that you have quoted Emma's Prophecy about the Philippines' experiencing long period of prosperity. Yes, She was right that a young man in the person of President Aquino would be elected as the President who would take us out of poverty, but you are wrong that you have claimed that it would be fora long period of time. The message of Our Lady to Emma was clear, to quote : " from 2011-2016 the Philippines will experience a period of great prosperity because a young man will be elected and lead the country out of poverty due to corruption...." You may be correct it could be for a longer period but it would depend on who will succeed President Aquino. Besides what is your credibility to say that her experiences are false mysticism by just watching a two hour documentation as opposed to the claims of hundreds of those who have witnessed the supernatural events, which include the Archbishops and other religious persons.
By the way my mother, along with her colleagues are there at this very moment in Batangas to meet Emma de Guzman.
Here is a little additional information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_de_Guzman I am concerned about the claim that she goes into a 'trance' which sounds so un-Catholic. Visions, locutions, apparitions, yes but not 'trance'!!
I will go back and have another look if I have time , Tom. It takes time to study up. Thanks for your input, I know she has a big following in the Phillipines, including amongst the clergy. it is a while since I studied her, I know I am far from infallible though as far as I remember from way back there were aspects that rang alarm bells. We will see....
Acts 11:4-18 But Peter began speaking and proceeded to explain to them in orderly sequence, saying, "I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from the sky; and it came right down to me, and when I had fixed my gaze on it and was observing it I saw the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the air. read more."I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' "But I said, 'By no means, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' "But a voice from heaven answered a second time, 'What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.' "This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into the sky. "And behold, at that moment three men appeared at the house in which we were staying, having been sent to me from Caesarea. "The Spirit told me to go with them without misgivings These six brethren also went with me and we entered the man's house. "And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying, 'Send to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; and he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.' "And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning. "And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' "Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?" When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, "Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life."
Acts 11:4-18 But Peter began speaking and proceeded to explain to them in orderly sequence, saying, "I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from the sky; and it came right down to me, and when I had fixed my gaze on it and was observing it I saw the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the air. read more."I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' "But I said, 'By no means, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' "But a voice from heaven answered a second time, 'What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.' "This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into the sky. "And behold, at that moment three men appeared at the house in which we were staying, having been sent to me from Caesarea. "The Spirit told me to go with them without misgivings These six brethren also went with me and we entered the man's house. "And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying, 'Send to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; and he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.' "And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning. "And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' "Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?" When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, "Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life."
There was as far as I recall a kind of golden glitter that falls, like a dew. I cannot recal lfrom scripture nor the lives of the saints anything similiar? I think one mark of authenticity in Catholic Mystical phenomena is that things tend to recurr, that we have an adversion to the novel in phenomena?
I am not saying Emma is false, but there were certain features that made me unesay, including a kind of over load of phenomena, it got kinda too much, with Emma at the centre o everything all the time. I hastened on elsewhere without looking back http://sharonkgilbert.com/?p=1031
Go have a beer Padraig. Potato Sack says she'll have a beer with anyone. I might join you if thats ok. Every Emma I've known has been trouble. I'm so glad there's no plants growing out of my chest. Knowing my luck I would have sprouted gorse bushes or thistles.
Actually Padraig, Julia Kim of Naju Korea had some of the same incredible mystical events. She also suffered the stigmata, golden glidder would fall, oil would appear on surfaces, rocks on the path to the stations of the cross would have drops of blood coming out of nowhere. She also suffered the stigmata and at least five times had the Eucharist turn into the bleeding flesh of Jesus Christ in her mouth. JPII even witnessed it. As did Bishop Roman Danylak, who wrote the defense of the apparitions to the Vatican. She suffered the pains of abortion and lay in agony for hours suffering for the sins of abortion. Maria Esperanza was called the 'female' Padre Pio. Roses erupted out of her chest miraculously during ecstasy, she suffered terribly yet recovered instantly. She suffered the crucifixion many times as did Julia Kim.
Maria Esperanza I bleive in, but she is not a canonisied saint either . There is a good Theology behind recognised phenomena such as the stigmata. That and tradition. I ma baffled as to a theological reson why flowers would grow out of people's chests. Also there is no tradition for it in the lives of the saints or in scripture.
