SUNDAY - Sunday after mass, my group decided to visit Blue Cross and Apparition Hill. Later, I went to confession (see other post for details).
Blue Cross
Early on in the apparitions, Mary appeared to Ivan and his friend near the base of Apparition Hill. She warned them that there were militia coming down the mountain and that they should stay there, be quiet and let them pass down.Later, Ivan's friend felt inspired to mark the spot where Our Lady appeared to him and Ivan, so he decided to build a large cross. However, the government was really unhappy about anything related to the apparitions (people were getting arrested and it was forbidden to go up either mountain) so he was afraid of marking the real spot. Therefore, he placed a large wooden Blue Cross about 20-30 feet away from the spot.
The next day, he found the cross chopped in half. This time, he made the cross out of metal and painted it blue (I asked why blue, and our guide, Franjo (pronounced Frahn-yo) said it was the only color paint he had), and placed it on the spot. That metal cross still stands today.
However, once the Communist government was dissolved and the believers in Medjugorje no longer needed to be afraid of anyone, they but another Blue Cross in the REAL spot where Mary appeared. Mary has appeared there to the visionaries thousands of times, including this past week when we were there for Mirjiana's monthly apparition and also today (Monday) for Ivan's apparition.
Apparition Hill
Apparition Hill is the mountain where the children first saw Our Lady. They saw her near the top, holding a baby, and they were scared, so they ran away. However, on the second day, they went back to the mountain and some curious villagers followed. Again, Mary appeared, and this time, the children RAN up the mountain. All witnesses describe it as "it was if they flew up the mountain."I didn't really appreciate that description until I actually saw the terrain for myself:
There are a ton of rocks in all different
shapes and sizes, the mountain is pretty steep, and there are also trees and thornbushes
– it’s a hill that you have to climb slowly and carefully, so the fact that
they went zooming up to where they saw Our Lady is actually a bit shocking –
maybe they DID fly a little bit…
So anyway, the visionaries had the
apparitions on this mountain for a little while, until the militia guarded it
and forbade anyone to go up it. Franjo told us that on the third day of the
apparitions, there were already a lot of people hearing about what was
happening and coming and asking the children all about Our Lady and what She
said, and asking the visionaries to ask Mary something or to pray for something
specific. So on the 3rd day, the visionaries were coming down
Apparition Hill and it was very crowded. Marija felt “an evil force” push her
forward – and she was about to fall headfirst into a thornbush when Mary
appeared and prevented it. Mary said “Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace between men
and peace between men and God.”
Marija said that normally during the
apparition, Mary has a cross of white light in the background behind her, but
when Our Lady appeared and prevented her from falling into the thornbush, she
had a gray, wooden cross behind her.
So there is a wooden cross there now, in
the spot where Our Lady saved Marija from her fall (you might be sensing a
theme here…a lottttta crosses in this town haha).
Anyway, as you climb Apparition Hill, there
are five beautiful bronze sculptures along the way, representing the five
Joyful Mysteries. As the story goes, in the first decade of the apparitions,
pilgrims were coming from all over the world and climbing the mountain, and
because Our Lady instructs us to pray the rosary, they were doing so on their way
up. One of the pilgrims was an Italian man named Carmelo Puzzolo. Puzzolo felt
inspired to make bronze sculptures of the joyful mysteries, and he told Father
Slavko that he would like to do so. Father Slavko said “Great! What do you
need?” and Puzzolo said he needed bronze. So Father Slavko took his contact
information and said, “We’ll be in touch.” The very next day, two men
approached Father Slavko and said, “We’d like to help Medjugorje in any way we
can, what can we do to help?” And Father asked them what they did for a living
and they said, “We are in the metals industry.” So! These two men donated the
bronze that Puzzolo needed to make his beautiful sculptures.
One of the many beautiful examples of how
God’s plan can unfold!
Anyway, Franjo told us this story before we
prayed the first decade of the rosary at the first sculpture on the climb, and
he told us that one time he was telling a group this story, and an old man who
he hadn’t even noticed sitting there came over and said in broken English, “Do
you like it?” and Franjo said, “Yes, of course! I’ve been praying here for 20
years, I love it.” And the old man started crying like a child and said, “I am
Carmelo Puzzolo.”
He was too old to climb any higher on the
mountain, but he told Franjo that he was so happy that Franjo was sharing that
story, and also that all the pilgrims liked his art and prayed at it.
The other important thing to know about Apparition Hill is that near the top (where Mary first appeared to the visionaries) is where the visible, indestructible, beautiful lasting sign (the 3rd secret Mary has told the visionaries) will be. Mary says that this lasting sign will be proof that the apparitions are legitimate and that no one will question the authenticity after. She also says it will be a call to conversion, but that there won't be much time after, which is why She is calling urgently for conversion now.
There is a statue of Mary there now:
MONDAY - Vicka's talk, Cross Mountain, and Ivan's Extra Apparition
The Smiling Visionary
First thing this morning, my group headed off to an orphanage on the outskirts of town to hear Vicka (pronounced veesh-ka) talk. Vicka is often seen as the leader of the visionaries (she is the oldest and the most outgoing) and she is also called "the smiling visionary." After seeing her, I can see why:
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| Bro, put your hair down so I can see... |
The entire time that Vicka talked to us she was smiling and waving and blowing kisses at the crowd. She spoke in Italian and then handed the mic to her left for the English translation. Here are some highlights from her talk:
Our Lady says that our faith is like a flower. When we water a flower, we can see it blossom and grow. In the same way, when we say prayers in our hearts, they are growing and blossoming like a rose. When you don't water the flower, you see how it is dying. Our Lady says, as the flower is not able to live without water, you are not able to live without God's Grace.
You cannot study prayer of the heart, you can only live it.
Our Lady says that it's okay for those who are sick to not fast, and that they can give up something else instead. But she said those who are healthy should fast and not make excuses such as "I will get a headache." She said, if you fast out of love for Her and Jesus, you won't have any problems. All you need is a strong will.
Our Lady says, "We [Jesus and I] are always close to you, but you must open your hearts to feel how much we love you."
She also said that we shouldn't go to confession just to get forgiveness, but that we should ask our priest/spiritual director etc. for advice on how to stop sinning.
Vicka said Our Lady is very worried about the young people in the world, and when She talks about them, She looks sad. Mary emphasizes that their situation in today's world is very difficult, and that we all need to love them and pray for them with our hearts. "Dear Children," She said, "So many things in today's world are temporary. But this is a time of Great Grace. Accept my message and live it with your hearts."
Mary says we need to pray for peace in the following order:
1. Pray for peace in our hearts
2. Pray for peace in our families
3. Pray for peace in the world
She also said that we need to pray for our priests, bishops, the pope, and the whole church because the church is "in need of prayer."
Mary also asked that we pray for one of Her plans, because it's important that it be realized.
The last thing Vicka talked about was how Mary took her and Jacov to Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell when he was 10 and she was 17.
She said the apparition took about 20 minutes, and Jacov thought that they were going to die, so he told Mary She should just take Vicka, since Vicka's mother had many children, but his mom only had him (hahahaha).
Mary took them by their hands, the cieling opened up, and they went through. The next moment, they were in Heaven.
Vicka said Heaven is a great space. There is light that doesn't exist here on Earth. All the people in heaven looked to be about the same age, and they were dressed in green, yellow, and rose colors. The people were all united in prayer and singing, praising God. There were also some angels floating around, joining in the praise. Vicka felt the joy in Heaven and said that it cannot be described with words, but its joy that we simply cannot feel or even imargine here on Earth.
Next, Mary took them to Purgatory. Purgatory is also a great space, but Vicka couldn't see any people. "Everything was gray as ash." Vicka could feel the physical suffering of the souls in Purgatory. Mary said, "All these souls are waiting for prayers from people on Earth in order to get into Heaven."
Last, Our Lady took them to Hell. Vicka said she saw a huge fire, and saw people going into the fire and then coming out the other side "like beasts - as if they had never been people at all." Mary said of all the souls in Hell, "It was their decision to go to Hell." She said that those people on Earth who cut themselves off from God's grace are already living in Hell, and after this world, they just continue doing so.
Our Lady said that we are just "passing by" Earth. She said that some people believe once this life is over, that is it, but that is a "great mistake" because life continues after Earth.
After Vicka was done sharing, she said she wanted to spend some time in silent prayer with us. She said Mary tells us that we "talk too much and pray too little" so she wanted to pray with us.
When we started, Vicka spent some time looking out at the crowd and making eye contact with the people there. It seemed like she was trying to memorize everyone's face. Then she closed her eyes and stood silently and still ... for over 20 minutes.
And let me tell you, I have been doing A LOT of praying this week, but I barely even knew what to do with 20 minutes of silence, and neither did everyone else. Slowly but surely, everyone started kind of shifting their weight and looking around...a couple people headed towards the bathroom, some other people left.
Vicka just stood there in silence with her palms together and a smile on her face.
Eventually, my group decided that we should go, because mass was in 10 minutes and Our Lady has been very clear that mass should be our number one priority (She told the visionaries if they had a chance to have an apparition with Her or a chance to go to mass, they must go to mass). So we left before the silence ended.
David said she has seen her pray silently like that for over 40 minutes. Holy cow. That's twice as long as I sat through, and it felt like an ETERNITY.
I was trying to sit there and tell myself "you're praying with a woman who is basically a saint. She hangs out with the Blessed Mother every day and she is way holier than you'll ever be. Try harder!" but it was way harder than it should have been.
As Rosemary said, "Wow, she really shows us that we have no idea how to pray."
Anyway it's almost 1am and I'm hitting a wall. I'll have to save Cross Mountain and Ivan's Extra Apparition for tomorrow's post. Goodnight!
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