Medjugorje - Our Lady’s Apparitions

Duhallow News

Medjugorje - 41 Years of Our Lady’s Apparitions

By TOM DENNEHY

On June 25th our group joined with pilgrims from all over the world celebrating 41 years of Our Lady’s Apparitions in Medjugorje. This year’s celebration attracted more than an estimated 40, 000 people from every continent and more than thirty countries. The local Croatian people, Polish and Ukraine made up the greater numbers. On the eve of the anniversary, the 31st peace walk took place. A huge crowd walked from the Shrine of St. Anthony in Humac to Medjugorje with many pilgrims from Ukraine taking part. The parishioners prepared for the anniversary with a Novena and during these days they gathered on Apparition Hill at 4am praying the Joyful and Sorrowful mysteries of the rosary. The chief celebrant for the anniversary mass was Fr Joso Grbes, Provincial of the Herzegovinian Franciscan Province. He was joined on the outside altar by 269 priests from all over the world. In his homily, Fr Joso spoke about the love we all need today, emphasising that he “believes that this love has brought you here; the love of the Mother, who invites us constantly and the love of Christ who is the main goal of all”. So much love is attached to the name of Medjugorje. This love is spread around the world. We are all familiar with that magnificent message from Our Lady- “If you knew how much I love you, you would cry with joy”. Medjugorje is Mary and leads us to the God of love, Christ the Saviour. Medjugorje, a little village in Bosnia Herzegovina, was unknown until June 1981 when Our Lady first appeared and this has not alone changed the life of the visionaries but the entire world. It all began on June 24th 1981 feast day of St. John the Baptist when a beautiful young woman appeared, holding the baby Jesus in her arms. The following evening, Vicka, Mirjana, Ivanka, Marija, Ivan and the youngest, Jakov who was only ten years old were drawn towards her and she spoke to them. Our Lady introduced herself as the Queen of Peace. This place is now known as Apparition Hill. This was June 25th now marked as the Anniversary date. “Dear Children, I have come to tell you that God does exist.” (June 25, 1981) This was Our Lady’s first message and it was significant to the people of Medjugorje as they had suffered terrible persecution under a Communist regime, which told them that they were wasting their time practising their faith. In this small region, 68 Priests were massacred and many of the people were thrown into prison and denied jobs, but they persisted in their faith. Our Lady told them that she had chosen Medjugorje because there were so many true believers. From the early days, our Lady gave signs to the world that she was really appearing. One of those signs was the letter “Mir”, a Croatian word which means “Peace” formed in the clouds for all to see. Over the last 41 years, more than 50 million people have visited Medjugorje. Many conversions continue to take place on a daily basis. Many vocations have resulted to the priesthood and religious life. There have been many miraculous healings both physical and spiritual. The continuation of our Lady’s presence in Medjugorje in these difficult times is a great blessing from God and she continues to give us hope and asks for our prayer for her intentions. She has promised in the end that her “Immaculate Heart will triumph”. Pilgrims availed of the cool of the morning air to climb Cross Mountain, Apparition Hill, Blue Cross and again attended the evening programme of rosary, confessions, International Holy Mass followed by adoration with all night adoration on both 24th and 25th. Various groups sang with great joy around the statue of Our Lady. In her message on June 25th, 2022, Our Lady thanks us for our prayers. She asks us to return to God and prayer. She says, “I am with you also in these days when Satan is fighting for war and hatred. Division is strong and evil is at work in man as never before”.