First Full Day in Medugorje

There was so much that has happened already today, I think I'm going to write in more of a narrative/memoir style for this post, in order to try and have it all make sense. Warning: this post is long but has a lot of good stuff in it!!!

I woke up at 6:20am local time. The hotel is really nice, but all the rooms have two tiny twin beds. I have no doubts that my standards are ridiculously high at the moment, because I'm used to plush, king-sized Marriott beds...I woke up in the middle of the night after almost rolling off the bed and got up to push the two beds together. Even then, there's a little bit of a gap, but this way at least I wouldn't fall off! It wasn't the best night of sleep, due to the tiny uncomfortable bed as well as the jet lag, but I was excited for Day One in Medugorje.

After a quick breakfast in the hotel, we walked towards Apparition Hill, to be present for the apparition by the Blue Cross.

Of the six visionaries, only Marija, Ivan, and Vicka still see Mary daily. Mirjiana (pronounced "Meer-ee-ah-nuh") sees the Madonna on the 2nd day of each month - which was today.

Tons of pilgrims, mostly from Italy, make their way to Medugorje for Mirjiana's monthly apparition. The area around the blue cross and the road by which Mirjiana walks to the cross were already packed when we got there, so my group stood and waited on the road leading to the cross.

It amazed me that all of these people were standing there, waiting for an apparition that none of us would be able to see. For about 45 minutes, we stood in the street, praying and waiting. People were singing and talking in different languages - mostly Croatian and Italian. As we got closer to the apparition time, someone started leading the rosary on a loudspeaker, and we all chanted together, in at least three languages. A man next to me was reciting it in Italian, so I listened until I thought I could do it:
Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou among women, and Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Santa Maria, Madre di Dio, prega per noi peccatori, adesso e nell'ora della nostra morte. Amen.

It was really very beautiful.

I caught just a glimpse of Mirjiana. You could tell she was coming because everyone started clapping. It must be so strange to be treated like a rockstar between your teens and your 50s, all because you're BFFs with Mary. Our guide told me that "Mir" means "Peace" and so "Mirjiana" means "Girl of Peace."

As I said, I couldn't see the cross or Mirjiana as the apparition happened, but everyone was silent while it was happening. All that you could hear was the hooting of an owl and the occasional cough. Thousands of people crowded on these hilly streets, and everyone silent. Amazing.

I didn't really feel anything extraordinary - but I was grateful to have been there.

Later, anyone can go into the info center and pick up the message that Our Lady gave. Here's what she said:

"Dear children, I, your mother, am with you for the sake of your well-being, for the sake of your needs and for the sake of your personal cognition. The Heavenly Father gave you the freedom to decide on your own and to become cognizant on your own. I desire to help you. I desire to be a mother to you, a teacher of the truth – so that in the simplicity of an open heart, you may become cognizant of the immeasurable purity and of the light which comes from it and shatters darkness, the light which brings hope. I, my children, understand your pain and suffering. Who could understand you better than a mother? And you, my children? Small is the number of those who understand and follow me. Great is the number of those who are lost - of those who have not yet become cognizant of the truth in my Son. Therefore, my apostles, pray and act. Bring the light and do not lose hope. I am with you. In a special way I am with your shepherds. With a motherly heart I love and protect them, because they lead you to Heaven that was promised to you by my Son. Thank you.”

After the apparition, we walked down to the church, called St. James. Wouldn't you know - the church was named St. James about 100 years ago, and James is the patron saint of pilgrims. The people who named the church had no idea what an appropriate name that would be...

There is mass every day, in all different languages. We went to the english mass, and it was PACKED. Not even kidding, it was standing room only! I was actually more overwhelmed during the mass than I was during the apparition - every single person in the church was participating. The "Our Father" reminded me of the National Anthem at a Blackhawks game. What I mean is, when Jim Cornelison belts out the anthem in his amazing, powerful voice and the whole stadium is filled with cheering and applause throughout the whole thing, I get chills and always think 'this is how the National anthem is SUPPOSED to be sung!' When I was standing in that church and the words of the Our Father were being professed loudly and truly by every person in there, all I could think was 'this is how Jesus intended us to pray this prayer!!!'

The sermon was also very beautiful. The gospel was the story of Jesus' miracle with the fish and the loaves, and the priest giving the sermon talked about how Jesus creates something beautiful out of our weaknesses, and where we are lacking, He multiplies in order to fill in what's missing.

He told a story of two old ladies, Margaret and Ruth, who both loved playing the piano throughout their lives but both suffered from a stroke, which left a hand useless and they thought they would never play the piano again. Until they found each other! Margaret played with her left hand and Ruth with her right, and they not only rediscovered music, but found each other after having lost almost everyone else.

It's really cool that I can go to church in Bosnia, and the mass is pretty much the same. It reminds me that "Catholic" actually means "universal." One of the only differences was instead of saying "Lord, hear our prayer," the response was "God, graciously hear us" which I thought was really beautiful.

After mass, our guide took us on a tour of the area. He told us that when the apparitions began, one of the questions that the children were asked was "What does Mary look like?" The questioners hoped to find some discrepancy in their responses, but they all responded the same way. "She is very beautiful. More beautiful than words. She has long, dark hair and wears a gray dress and a white veil. She has a crown of stars on her head."

When asked how many stars in her crown, little Jakov counted during the next apparition, and later said "There are 12 stars, but they are not connected by anything, unlike the ones you see on statues, which are connected by wire."

One day, the children gathered the courage to ask Mary "How are you so beautiful?" and Mary smiled and said "I am beautiful because I love."

Our guide told us a little bit about the history of the town. The townspeople put the giant cross up on the mountain in 1933. After World War II, the area was very poor, and there weren't any jobs. The only jobs available were with the government, but if you worked for the communist party, you were not allowed to attend church or publicly believe in God - so people had to choose between a job and their faith. The only other choice was to work elsewhere, which many did. Our guide, Francis, said his father worked with Vicka's (one of the visionaries) father in Germany for 25-30 years or so.

The apparitions began in 1981, and at that time the village didn't have any accommodations for pilgrims. They didn't even have running water! The first pilgrims either stayed a few hours away and drove into town, or they stayed at a house in the village with the villagers. About 5 years after the apparitions began, the communist government was worried about this "lasting sign" that Mary had said was coming. They read about Lourdes, and how our Lady left a spring there, and they were worried that She would bring water to the town, since they didn't have running water, so instead they brought running water to the village!

Our guide also talked about how the Serbs were bombing everywhere in Bosnia in 1992, but Medujorje never took any damage. Apparently, at least once they came with the intention of bombing, but the clouds were too thick and they couldn't see. Other times, the bombs dropped and hit the ground...and nothing happened! War ravaged the area, but the Queen of Peace protected Medugorje.

It reminded me of this church I went to in Rome, where I saw and touched a cannonball lodged in the wall of the church. Allegedly, Mary intervened while Rome was under siege, and prevented the cannonball from destroying the altar.

After learning more about Medugorje's amazing history, we visited Father Slavko's grave. Father Slavko was one of the most influential priests at Medugorje. He was very well educated and also very passionate about the validity of the situation. He welcomed doctors and scientists from all over to test the visionaries, who came to a number of conclusions, including but not limited to: the visionaries appear to lose all sight of the surrounding world during the apparition and their eye movement stops, they also appear to lose all sense of touch and can be picked up, poked, etc and will return to a kneeling position involuntarily. When conversing with our Lady, their larynx ceased moving - except when praying the Our Father. Brain activity remained in an alpha state (the state of wakefulness) during the apparition and never a Beta state (the state of dreams and sleeping). Etc.

So Father Slavko was loved and respected, along with being instrumental in spreading word on what was happening at Medugorje. In 1992, he gave an artist from Slovenia permission to erect a statue called the "Statue of the Risen Christ" near to St. James church. This is a huge, beautiful bronze sculpture, a moving depiction of Jesus in a loin cloth, with His arms raised high and an imprint of His body in the ground behind Him.

In 2000, Father Slavko passed away. Mary told the visionaries that He is in Heaven, interceding on all of our behalf.

In 2001, the Statue of the Risen Christ began to leak fluid out of the knee. Several tests were done to try and discover if it was a hoax and also what the liquid is. They couldn't find any reason for the leaking and proved that it wasn't condensation or anything like that.

Scientists have concluded that the fluid leaking from the statue is unlike any other fluid on Earth, but that it most closely resembles a human tear.

Since 2001, there have been several cures documented from the fluid, including a blind man regaining sight, a woman being cured of breast cancer, and a child with an extraordinarily rare incurable disease involving tumors behind his eyes becoming fully healthy after touching the fluid to his eyes.

There was a long line to touch the knee - pilgrims waiting patiently to touch the fluid and make the sign of the cross, or to soak handkerchiefs in the fluid to take home to loved ones. Since we're here all week and many people are only here for a couple of days (for Mirjiana's monthly apparition), we didn't wait in line but instead just sat and prayed the rosary together.

There have now been more miracles documented as a result of Medjugorje than either Fatima or Lourdes. The visionaries say that Mary asks us to submit to God's will and accept our situation. She says that we should find peace no matter what's going on in our lives. However, many of the people who have been cured have said that they heard Mary tell them to "believe and to pray" or to simply ask to be healed.

Ever since I found out about Medugorje, I have wondered why the Catholic church hasn't taken an official position on it yet. The last few popes have visited and are in support of other believers doing so, but despite sending commissions to investigate over the years, there isn't an official stance and many Catholics [and other Christians] don't even know about it! I found out today that apparently, they wont take a position until the phenomenon is over with. Something about needing to review it in its totality.

I think that's absolutely crazy! This was a fine approach for other things, such as Fatima and Lourdes and Knock, because those didn't continue for over 3 decades!!! I feel like they should make an exception in this case and review it up until this point. It seems crazy that the church doesn't want to be officially part of something so amazing!

Let me just give Pope Francis a quick call and convince him...

Anyway, now that I've written a novel, I'm going to do what I came back to my hotel to do in the first place - take a quick siesta! After this post, I don't think I'll make another tonight, but I suppose I might surprise myself.

Other things happening this week: Ivan is in town, so he is speaking tomorrow. Vicka is also here, and I'll be going to see her speak on Monday. Tomorrow I am going up apparition hill and Sunday we're doing the stations of the cross on Mt. Krizevac.

Ciao for now!