'The Secrets, Chastisement, and Triumph of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary and What Heaven in Calling Us To Do'

SALT LAKE CITY- There are books galore out there written by those who claim to have visions, to talk to Jesus and Mary, and who claim they have some insight into the future. It's easy to get caught up in these books and their claims, forgetting that our true message comes to us from God and that only He knows when the end will come.

Kelly Bowring, a professor of sacred theology at Southern Catholic College, has given us a new book written with respect for Church teaching, and while it teeters on the teachings of some visionaries who have not yet been approved by the church, it give us a good deal to think about and to take to Jesus and Mary in our prayers.

"The Secrets, Chastisement, and Triumph of the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary and What Heaven in Calling Us To Do" draws primarily from the messages from Fatima and Medjugorje, but also presents messages from others who claim to be visionaries.

The book relies heavily on the relationship between the hearts of Jesus and Mary, both of whom seem to warn us, guide us and lead us on to lives of increased holiness. The book carries the imprimatur of Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal of the Philippines, but still calls us to carefully study each claim that is made.

I am uncomfortable with the book's emphasis on the apocalypse, making it seem imminent as the church's history moves from pope to pope until we will eventually encounter the Antichrist.

"The Secrets, Chastisement, and Triumph," on the other hand, encourages us to depend on Mary, the mother of Jesus, as if she is our mother as well: "Since Jesus is sending his mother from Heaven to speak with us, to warn us, to call us to conversion and holiness, as her spiritual children it rightly behooves us to respond with childlike simplicity, and to say yes to our heavenly mother and thus to listen to and obey what she is asking us," the book states.

This seems to refer to more recent visionary messages that the church has not yet investigated nor recognized. It also relies on the writings and the messages of Pope John Paul II, to which it refers as "the great evangelizer," drawing him close to the messages of Our Lady of Fatima and her revelations.

The book draws heavily from the Bible, particularly the Book of Revelation. As it progresses it emphasizes more and more the coming of the end days, especially when it comes to the visions and writings of St. Faustina, Sr. Lucia of Fatima, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, St. Maximilian Kolbe, and Father Stefano Gobbi, founder of the Marian Movement of Priests.

Be careful to research the book and determine which of the apparitions it promotes are church-approved and which are not, but the book does call us to respect and pray for the intercession of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate heart of Mary, inferring that they are forever bound together for our good.

"The Secrets, Chastisement, and Triumph of the two hearts of Jesus and Mary, and What Heaven is Calling Us To Do," by Kelly Bowring, Two Hearts Press, LLC, Cumming Ga., soft cover, 286 pages, $19.95.