Gallery folder contains 21 images
Photos taken during the Easter.
Holy Week, the highpoint of the Lenten preparation for Easter, begins with Palm (or Passion) Sunday. In Medjugorje, the liturgy of Passion Sunday begins with the reading of the Gospel and the blessing of the branches, and is followed by a procession from the site of the old parish church, culminating with the celebration of Holy Mass in the current Parish Church.
The liturgy was presided over by the Parish Priest, Fr. Ivan Sesar, assisted by Fr. Karlo Lovric and Fr. Boze Milic, and the parish choir, under the direction of Sr. Slavica Kozul, sang the Passion.
Numerous pilgrims from the neighbouring areas, and from abroad, joined with the parishioners. Especially numerous were the pilgrims from Croatia.
Again this year, Easter and the Sacred Triduum of Holy Week attracted numerous pilgrims from all continents and from various language groups to Medjugorje: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Czech, Slovak, Latvian, Romanian, Netherlands, Maltese, Arabic (Lebanon and Egypt) and Croatian speaking pilgrims.
On Holy Thursday there were no morning Masses. In the afternoon, the pilgrim groups celebrated the Holy Thursday Liturgy according to their language groups, while in the evening, the Last Supper Mass, in Croatian, was presided over by the Parish Priest, Fr. Ivan Sesar, in the Parish Church. The night adoration from 10.30 pm to 12.00 pm was presided over by Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic.
On Good Friday morning, different language groups climbed the Cross Mountain every half-hour, starting at 6.30 am. The Croatian language group, the last of the groups to climb Cross Mountain, set off at 11 am. The Way of the Cross was led by Fr. Ivan Sesar. Numerous pilgrims went individually to Cross Mountain in the afternoon also. During the afternoon, the Good Friday Liturgy was celebrated in various languages, culminating with the celebration of the Liturgy in Croatian at 6.00 pm. This liturgy was presided over by Fr. Stjepan Martinovic, while Fr. Karlo Lovric and Fr. Boze Milic, accompanied by the parish choir under the direction of Sister Slavica Kozul, sang the Passion according to John.
On Saturday, various language groups celebrated the Easter Liturgy of the Word during the afternoon, and in the evening, at 8.00 pm, they joined the parishioners for the Easter Vigil and Adoration in the Parish Church. The Easter Vigil was presided over by Fr. Tomislav Pervan, and the night adoration from 11.00 pm to 12.00 pm was led by Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic.
Throughout all of Holy Week, local priests, together with many foreign priests, spent a great part of their day in the confessionals. The Friars serving in Medjugorje paid special attention to the sick and the old parishioners, and heard their confessions in their own homes.
Again this year, because of the great number of pilgrims and the lack of space in the Parish Church, all the liturgical events were transmitted via a large screen, so that the pilgrims could follow them both in the new hall and in front of the church.
On Easter Sunday, the Holy Masses were celebrated according to the usual schedule.
During the Paschal Triduum and Easter, more then 15,000 communions were distributed, and 52 priests concelebrated each day.