Make a believer out of me

Jim Caviezel, 35, is one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood. Caviezel recently starred as Edmond Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo, following his screen breakthrough in 1998 as Private Witt in The Thin Red Line. He recently gave an interview where he spoke about what Medjugorje means for his life

"The Count of Monte Cristo was a very difficult script to do, and we were working 18-hour days, seven days a week. My wife was in Medjugorje at the time; she called me during the filming in Ireland. She said that Ivan Dragicevic, one of the visionaries, was going to be in Ireland and she wanted me to meet him. I told her it would take a miracle for me to have time.

"Sure enough, a miracle happened: we had problems on the set, and I found myself in a car on the way to hear this visionary speak. I was sceptical, but Ivan looked over to me and in his Croatian accent he said, 'I want to meet with you on Sunday'. I was thinking, I have too many things to do. But I went and said, 'I don't think I can believe this, but I'm going to ask you questions that most people wouldn't ask.' I said, 'Make a believer out of me.'

"So we talked, and later when we were praying the rosary Ivan said Mary came in the room and I felt something wonderful happening to me. When the apparition was over, I got up and told Ivan I wanted them (Mary and Jesus) in my heart. He said to ask them myself and so I said, 'I want you in my heart now; you probably won't, but come on.'

"The next day was a day I will never forget. I believe I went through my own personal purgatory. But the following morning I felt wonderful. I saw a book called something like Messages from Mary in Medjugorje.

One of the messages was 'You will never know happiness living a sinful life.' And I knew exactly what that was for me. And I grabbed a rosary. Ivan had told me, 'God is calling you to pray from your heart.' And I was never able to do that before; that was the first time I had ever been able to pray from my heart."