Medjugorje WebSite Updates

- How would you summarise the messages of Medjugorje? What is distinguishing these messages from those in Lourdes or Fatima?

Bishop Hnilica – In all three places, Our Lady is inviting us to repentance, forgiveness and prayer. In this aspect of the message, these three apparitions are similar. However, the difference in Medjugorje is that the apparitions are lasting for 23 years now. The intensity of the continuation of the supernatural is neither declining nor diminishing during all these years, and the result is an even greater number of intellectuals that are converted here.

Approximately 2,000 people inhabit the Hungarian speaking rural parish of Sts. Peter and Paul, in the town Male Pijace in Voivodina (Serbia). They have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in their church every Thursday. They listen to the meditations from the church in Medjugorje thanks to “Radio Maria” from Novi Sad, which, in turn, relays the broadcasts from Radio “Mir” Medjugorje. Whenever translation into the Hungarian language is not possible in Medjugorje itself, the translation is done in the studio in Novi Sad.

On 7th October Mirjana was interviewed by a group from Foggia.

Q. Mirjana, do you continue to see Our Lady regularly?

Mirjana Dragicevic: Yes, Our Lady always appears to me on 18th March and 2nd of each month. With regards to the 18th March She told me that Her apparitions would last all my life. I do not know when those of the 2nd will finish. They are very different from those I experienced with the other visionaries up to Christmas 1982. While Our Lady appears for these at a set time (5.45 pm) I do not know when She will arrive. I begin to pray when it is about 5 am and at times Our Lady appears in the afternoon, or even in the late evening. The duration of the apparitions also differs: those of the visionaries last about 3 to 8 minutes, the ones I receive on the 2nd of each month from 15 to 30 minutes.

From the beginning, the Medjugorje apparitions were accompanied by many unusual phenomena, both in the sky and on the ground, especially by miraculous healings. I myself, with about a thousand pilgrims, experienced one unusual dance of the sun. That manifestation was so unusual and obvious, that everyone without exception classified it as a miracle. None of those present remained indifferent, which I myself was convinced of by questioning the others who were present. The joy, the tears, and the statements of those present strongly confirmed it. From their words, it could be seen that they understood that manifestation as a confirmation of the authenticity of the apparitions, and as an incentive to respond to the Medjugorje messages by accepting them. And that is the real purpose of miracles: to help people believe and live by faith because they stand in the service of the faith and of the salvation of people.

• Considerably extended Medjugorje Apparitions section
• Added some new items and new category Medjugorje in the Church to News & Articles
• Improved design of Pictures & photos galleries
• Added 4 new galleries with Medjugorje Photos from late summer, Visionary Vicka, Siroki Brijeg and Krizevac (Cross Mountain)
• New page Latest Message (suitable for distribution) in Medjugorje Messages section
• Titles of all Medjugorje Messages are now more descriptive and more suitable for printing in Internet Explorer. Highlighted date of message followed by symbol means that by clicking on the date, the message will be displayed separately in a popup window allowing to print and email the message, and add the message to favorites in your Internet Browser. Example:
  “Dear children! This is a time of grace. That is why pray, pray, pray until you comprehend God's love for each of you. Thank you for having responded to my call. ”
• Some links in left navigation bar of Medjugorje Messages section are more detailed and understandable
• Added new links to selected recommended pages about Medjugorje Messages, Medjugorje Apparitions, Medjugorje News & Articles and Medjugorje Photos in the introductory page
• Created separate section for Guestbook
• Special versions for low resources browsers, mobile phones and PDA devices
  • Medjugorje Text WebSite (http://text.medjugorje.ws),
  • Medjugorje WAP WebSite (http://wap.medjugorje.ws),
  • Medjugorje PDA WebSite (http://pda.medjugorje.ws)

Scientific Research on the Medjugorje visionaries

After the apparition of the Blessed Virgin on November 30, 1983, Maria Pavlovic came to me and said, 'The Madonna says that the Supreme Pontiff and the Bishop must be advised immediately of the urgency and great importance of the message of Medjugorje.'

In the Parish of Medjugorje, the Solemnity of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is called “Križevac” and is traditionally celebrated on the first Sunday after the Feast of the Nativity of Mary. In honour of the Holy Year of Redemption 1933/34, and inspired by their pastor Fr. Bernardin Smoljan, the parishioners, despite their poverty, built a monumental cross, 8.5 m high and 3.5 m wide, on the hill above Medjugorje. Relics of the true cross of Jesus, received from Rome for the occasion, are embedded in the crossbar itself.

I remember well the first time I came to Medjugorje. It was in 1997 and I was 14 years old. That pilgrimage marked a turning point in my life. It gave my life a definite direction. The journey, of course, is gradual, but at different moments I have been asked to give my response to God, and in total freedom I renewed my “yes” each time.

I was a boy at the time, and when I first came here to this blessed land I had no particular expectations or biased opinions of any type. As I look back I think I was simply led here by Our Lady. She took me by the hand and led me towards the God of Love. Till then I knew God only by hearsay, but I was soon to be seduced by Him.

Maybe we tend to say: I’ve been able to do this or that, or: this work is mine, revealing a note of self-satisfaction, or even pride. So I ask: how will we see our life when it nears its end? I think we’ll have a serene and luminous recollection of what God has done in our lives and in the lives of others, and for us this will certainly be reason for joy and peace. Perhaps we shall have a distant and even indifferent recollection of what we will have done on our own; and we may also regret not having the ability and possibility of doing what we were once able to do. God, however, does not so much seek our doing – for in an instant He can create the universe – but He seeks our heart, for it is there that He finds His delight.

Colette is French, her husband, British and they have two girls born in America:

"We currently live in Pennsylvania. Our family is, or should I say, was not the religious type. Both my husband and I had had disgruntling experiences with the Catholic Church and we were happy to stay as far from it as we possibly could. And yet, in March 2003, something really weird happened.

A song, warm and rhythmical, rises from their joyful hearts, as also their minds and bodies praise the King. In dozens of different languages and prayers, with hundreds of different colours and thousands of voices, there is something new and unique going on in Medjugorje. It cannot go unnoticed by anyone, but rather, the life it brings urges you to come and be part of this one body, which is the springtime of the Church, and the mystical body of Christ.

How did the Festival first begin? What was its aim?

This festival began 17 years ago when Fr. Slavko began to help a group of young people understand Medjugorje, also through the help of songs personal testimonies. I wasn’t here then, so I can’t tell you more about that. It was certainly a group of young people who had been touched by Medjugorje and by Our Lady’s presence and by her messages. So, gradually, this festival, this international meeting grew.