We started on Thursday, October 2 on an 25 hour trip from Mountain View to San Francisco airport to Frankfurt to Split, Croatia to our pension in Medjugorje [drop the “j”s and you have MED u GOR ay]. We were part of a 25 member tour group from Medjugorje Web run by Steve and Ann Shawl out of Minnesota. This was our third trip to Medjugorje.
Medjugorje is a place of peace, inspiration, spiritual recharging—a place to do a retreat of meditation and thanksgiving. Basically, it is a shrine to the Mother of Jesus as Our Lady, Queen of Peace who has been appearing there everyday for the last 27 years which receives one and a half million pilgrims every year. At the end of this blog, for those interested, I will give a synopsis of Medjugorje’s history.
With breakfast eaten and final preparations completed, we waited somewhat impatiently for our airport shuttle that would start us off on our exotic adventure.
The first leg of our journey involved Lufthansa/United Airlines 11 ½ hour flight over the North Pole to Frankfurt on a 10 seat (each very narrow) wide 747 Jumbo Jet. The rather rough flight was further degraded by a couple of exuberant young French ladies in the row behind us giggling and bouncing around all night long. It was a full plane: over 350 passengers, we had 3 “B” movies, and 2 full meals.
From Frankfurt, after a 3 hour layover, we hopped on a Croatian jet bound for Split, a large Croatian city on the Adriatic coast just across the sea from Italy. Our luggage had been checked through to Split.
After landing at Split, we were met by a coach from Medjugorje for the 3 ½ hour drive to Medjugorje. Bosnia-Hercegovina has only 15 miles of coastline with Croatia on either side extending to the north toward Split and the south to Dubrovnik. It is a complex and complicated nation with large numbers of Roman Catholics, Serbian Orthodox, and Muslims all trying to recover from a bloody civil war in the 1990s (the breakup of Yugoslavia) that created hundreds of thousands of refugees (remember Kosovo?). The language and culture are Croatian, similar to the countries of Slovenia and Croatia.The capital city is Sarajevo, but if you look for Medjugorje, you’re not likely to find it—it originally had only about 400 families in a cluster of five small villages. The nearest town of any size is Mostar about 15 miles away (look just north of Dubrovnik on a map) that was almost completely destroyed during the war. Medjugorje was the only place in the area that was not damaged during the civil war, and so ended up with thousands of refugees from surrounding towns and villages, including Mostar.
Driving on a twisty, windy road along the blue-green Adriatic Sea in Croatia (like hwy 1 in California) we passed holiday resorts and hotels backed up against the coastal mountains.
Our group stayed at a pension owned by Mirjana Brečié (elder sister of visionary Vicka). After a hearty supper, we literally fell into bed, asleep immediately—at the end of our 30 hour day. Medjugorje is 9 hours to the east of California.
The centerpiece for the group every day was Mass usually at St. James Church built in the center of the five villages in the valley— Medjugorje means the place between the mountains. We were about a 25-30 minute walk through fields from the Church and central business area.
Women of the villages spend the winter months making handmade souvenirs and crafts for the pilgrims. Their work was usually very finely done and reasonably priced.
The fields are still under cultivation.
Although, St. James Church was built many years before the apparitions of the Mother of God began, it was built with a capacity far exceeding the current population. With the outside areas supplied with seating and loudspeakers, there usually up to 10 thousand faithful at Mass during summertime feast days.
There are daily Masses in various languages: German, Italian, French, Spanish, English, and of course Croatian. The English Mass is usually at 10 AM and the combination of Irish, English, and Americans almost always overflows the 6,000 or so inside the Church into the outside seating. This picture shows 25 priests con-celebrating.
The statue of Mary, modeled after her likeness during an apparition, is a favorite meeting place in the large plaza in front of the Church. All kinds of pilgrims come to Medjugorje to absorb its abundant graces—from young to old, those in poor health, many different religions, lay people and religious from nuns to bishops. The pilgrims are definitely not limited to Catholics—many faithful of other beliefs or no belief come to this well-spring of peace and inspiration.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation is especially stressed by Our Lady of Peace. There are about 50 confessional boxes being used all the time plus overflows such as this group at the side of the Church.
For special Feast days this outdoor area in back of the Church is used for celebrating the Mass.
Jean is using one of the commonly seen vineyards as a foreground for a photo of Cross Mountain, which has a 35 foot cross that was constructed on its summit during the 1930s.
Our Medjugorje guide, Snjeźana Zovko explained the significant places in the valley to us. This morning we are going to climb Apparition Hill where Mary first started appearing to the six children.
As we make our way up the unimproved trail, together we pray the Joyful mysteries of the Rosary.
A statue of Mary has been placed where she first appeared to the six visionaries.
When we made our pilgrimage to Medjugorje in 2003, we attended an evening apparition by Ivan Dragicevic on this spot.
An early (1980s) picture of the six visionaries during a group apparition. Left to right (married name in parenthesis): Vicka Ivankovic (Mijatovic) almost 17 years old, Jakov Colo 10 years old, Mirjana Dragicevic (Soldo) 16 years old, Ivanka Ivankovic (Elez) 15 years old, Marija Pavlovic (Lunetti) 16 years old, and Ivan Dragicevic 16 years old. All the visionaries are married now and have children of their own. Mirjiana and Ivan are not related.
Vicka in front of her parent’s house where she had been talking and answering questions from groups of pilgrims. She is with Teresa Lee, a member of our group.
Jean is praying at a monument of the fifth decade, The Last Supper, of the Luminous mysteries of the Rosary.
We were graced by a glorious sunset.
It is time to leave our gracious host, Mirjana Brečié, and her home-like pension in the peaceful Valley between the Mountains.
Our last look at the soaring twin towers of St. James Church as our bus passes by in the early morning tranquility.
Again, we wind in and out of the steep cliffs of the Croatian coastline along the Adriatic Sea as we drive on toward Split.
Back on a Croatian plane we leave behind the peace of the Medjugorje villages for the hustle and bustle of the the big cities of Europe. But we are blessed with an inner peace to carry to others wherever we go.A preview of the up-coming blogs:
Frankfurt,
financial capital of Germany
Big Ben,
icon of London
Fall colorat the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew
Eiffel Tower,
symbol of Paris
symbol of Paris
A Brief Synopsis of the Medjugorje Story
Since 1981, in a small village in Bosnia-Hercegovina named Medjugorje, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, has been reportedly appearing and giving messages to the world. She tells us that God has sent her to our world and, these years she is spending with us are a time of Grace granted by God. In Her own words She tells us, "I have come to tell the world that God exists. He is the fullness of life, and to enjoy this fullness and peace, you must return to God".As the largest of the five villages which comprise the parish (Medjugorje, Bijakovici, Vionica, Miletina, Surmanci), Medjugorje gave its name to this extensive Roman Catholic parish.
According to the testimony of the six young parishioners, the Blessed Virgin Mary has been appearing daily in the parish of Medjugorje since June 24, 1981. That day the visionaries were frightened by the apparition of Our Lady and ran away. On the following day, June 25, they responded to Our Lady's call and went to Apparition Hill, where for the first time they prayed and spoke with her. That is why this day is celebrated as the anniversary of the apparitions of the Queen of Peace, as Our Lady introduced herself.
The six children:
Ivanka Ivankovic - Elez - Was born in 1966, had daily apparitions till May 7, 1985. On that day, confiding to her the last of ten secrets, Our Lady told her that for the rest of her entire life, she will have an apparition once a year on June 25, the anniversary of the apparitions.
Mirjana Dragicevic - Soldo - Was born in 1965, had daily apparitions until December 25, 1982. On the last day of her apparitions, Our Lady told her that for the rest of her entire life she will have an apparition once a year on March 18, her birthday. Since August 2, 1987, on each second day of the month, she also receives an apparition and prays with Our Lady for unbelievers (those who have not yet felt or experienced God's love).
Vicka Ivankovic - Mijatovic - Was born in 1964, still has daily apparitions.
Marija Pavlovic - Lunetti - Was born in 1965, still has daily apparitions. On the 25th of each month Our Lady gives Marija the monthly message meant for the parish and the entire world.
Ivan Dragicevic - Was born in 1965, still has daily apparitions.
Jakov Colo - Was born in 1971, had daily apparitions until September 12, 1998. Our Lady told him that for the rest of his entire life he will have an apparition once a year on Christmas.
Our Lady's mission is one of peace and love. She has come to earth to reeducate us and to help us convert and recenter our lives back to God. Our Lady's role has always been one of guiding people to her Son, Jesus. What a fantastic opportunity we have before us! It is important that we understand both the magnitude and the urgency of Our Lady's call to conversion, and that we respond with all our hearts.
We were very pleased with the arrangements, guides, and accommodations of the Medjugorje Web tour at www.MedjugorjeWeb.com. But if you need a particular date there are many other tours to Medjugorje each month.
