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My first Medjugorje Pilgrimage, 23rd Anniversary Tour by Rafaelmarie First of all, I want to say that my Medjugorje pilgrimage was the most traumatic experience in my life, but in a positive way. It was a boot camp for the soul. It was physically, spiritually, and emotionally exhausting. It seemed you arrived tired, and you really never quite recover, until it’s time for you to leave. And it seems you are running on fumes, leaving more tired than you arrive, but our Blessed Mother provides the graces to keep going on! Well anyway, let me tell my story. I’m not a literary expert, so please excuse my bad grammar and sentence structure. I just tried to write in a way not to forget the events and the emotions involved in my descriptions, so please excuse my English. Also, I’m not to sure of what exactly happened during the timelines, but I did my best, using what I recorded with my video camera. But I do admit, it is long, a lot of wonderful people and events to write about, so I apologize. At first my spouse asked me if I wanted to go on an Alaska cruise. I declined because I preferred warm water ports, i.e., Jamaica, Puerto-Rico, etc.. Later the trip turned out to be a girl’s time out, since my spouse invited her cousins and aunt, including my daughter, to go on the cruise. A couple of months later, my spouse asked me if I wanted to go to Medjugorje, since she knew I always wanted to go, and this would make up for me not going on the Alaska cruise. I was happy I was finally going to Medjugorje, but at the same time I was tentative, since I already had Medjugorje in my heart, or I thought so. I was already a big Medjugorje fan, even though I never been to Medjugorje. Also, I went to all the Irvine Medjugorje Peace Conferences when I first knew about them. I even went to them when I was unemployed years ago, without paying the conference fee, hoping that they would let me in free, and by Mary’s grace the conference organizers were always generous enough to do so. Like I said, I was always a big Medjugorje fan, e.g., read all of Wayne Weible’s books, read his newsletters, read other books on Medjugorje, subscribed by e-mail our Mother’s messages, etc., etc.. So I asked myself, well why now? Why does our Blessed Mother want me to go now? Now that I considered myself one Her “Navy Seals” per say? To be honest, I was a little leery, because from my experience and maybe yours, whenever our Blessed Mother wants us to do something, it is usually something we don’t want to do. Day One, Friday, 6/18/04 Well, it was time to go, and lickety-split, my spouse drove me to LAX airport. As I was walking towards the KLM desk, it finally dawned on me that I didn’t have anyway to communicate with my spouse while I was in Medjugorje, since she would be on a cruise liner at the same time. I felt cut-off from civilization, but I guess this is how our Blessed Mother wanted it, She wanted me all to Her own, I guess. Day Two, Saturday, 6/19/04 After a brief stop over in Detroit we arrived in Amsterdam. There, I finally met some people who were going to Medjugorje. A wonderful Nun, who had been organizing tours groups and going to Medjugorje for many years. I also was able to go to confession at the airport by a wonderful Priest, Fr. Robert Sadleck, who told me his story of leaving the Priesthood in less than two years, marrying a Nun, having children, later divorcing, and on a trip to Medjugorje, he returned to the Priesthood. I’ve never seen a Priest so much on fire by the Holy Spirit as much as He was!
Sister & myself at Amsterdam airport That same day, we arrived at Split, Croatia. The airport reminded me of Sangster airport in Jamaica, we debarked outdoors. I was exhausted, and we still had a three hour bus-ride to Medjugorje. We met our tour guide, Snezana, that’s as close as I can say or spell Her name. Her nickname, that she didn’t like, was snow-white, I called her Snezzy.
Snezzy & myself The Croatian Adriatic coastline was as breath taking as was seen from the air when we approached Split airport. The resorts and tourist spots are still in their infancy, and the Adriatic ocean was as blue and azure as for example, Jamaica’s coast. After the three hour nauseating bus-ride, (we took the long way, so that we would take in the Croatian Adriatic coastline), we finally arrived in Medjugorje. I turned my camera on to capture the entrance. I didn’t expect Medjugorje to be as it is today, modern. In fact, it was more modern than my spouse’s hometown of Orocovis, which is in Puerto-Rico, and a U.S. Territory! On the way in, I observed one of the gypsy beggars that Snezzy mentioned not to give money to because supposedly it was illegal. This was after she mentioned that she dreamed going to San Francisco to visit. I said to myself, Snezzy wants to go to Sodom and Gomorrah? Is this a person really a Medjugorje person in desiring this? We rounded a corner and came upon a one lane street. Our progress was blocked by a local in a Mercedes Benz who refused to back-up. After a few words and stares by our bus-driver, the driver of the Benz backed up and let us pass, giving a nasty stare at our bus driver as we drove by. I said to myself, is this how the Medjugorje people behave? When we arrived at our room and board, Mirjana Brecic's, Vicka’s older sister’s house (Nejo’s widow), we were all asked to give a tip to the driver. I said to myself, wait a minute, our tour brochures said that the $40 tip we would give to our tour organizer would cover this?! Is our driver and tour guide double-dipping?! Needless to say, I was having serious doubts already about the legitimacy of my religious pilgrimage already! We then met our tour organizer, Ana, a Saint, who welcomed us lovingly. After we got our luggage, we were all then all paired up with our room-mates, assigned our rooms, and proceeded to dinner. I was about ready to skip dinner and go to bed, but I was hungry too. On the way to the dining room, I confronted Ana, about the discrepancies, i.e., Medjugorje’s moderness and perceived unholiness, at least from my ignorant point of view. Ana, patiently and lovingly assuaged all of my concerns with perfectly reasonable explanations, that if you didn’t know would mis-lead the self-righteous person like me very easily. All I know is that I wasn’t the first-timer with these concerns.
Ana & myself After dinner, Ana gave us a bit of history of Medjugorje, the Visionaries, the Apparition sites. I was really interested in the very first Apparition site of our Lady of Medjugorje, in which Ana pointed out the Cross which marked it. I made mental notes of it’s location in relation the main Apparition site marked by our Lady’s statue, and made a resolution to find it. We were all rested somewhat to accept Ana’s invitation to go to St. James. She gave us a great orientation. On the way there my Rosary turned gold, which more than made up for the long journey to Medjugorje. As a side note, my friend Karen, who was separated from Her Husband, also had not only Her Rosary turn gold, but also the Rosary She bought for Her Husband. To me, this was a sign that they would eventually get back together again. Day 3, Sunday, 6/20/04 Next morning I woke up around 3 a.m., chalk it up to excitement and jet-lag. I got up around 4:30 a.m., it started getting light around 3 a.m. anyway which also contributed to my getting up early. I hoped that my roomy did not mind me getting up so early, he was still in bed. I was determined to find the first Apparition spot. Taking my first steps out of the dormitory, I noticed a pilgrim already awake and asking me where I was going from his balcony. I told him and proceeded on, lugging my old camera, my spouse had the digital. I took the first trail that seemed to go to the Apparition statue, it was next to a Church which had the Miraculous Medal in it’s bell tower, you probably know which one I’m talking about, if you were a pilgrim. As I started going up the trail, I was sweating and breathing hard already, but not tired. I worked out regularly, jogging just about every day for half and hour, this tells you that for the inexperienced, Apparition Hill, and Cross Mountain for that matter, were no cake walks. It did seem that the trail was well traveled, but it wasn’t devastated, and in good shape for having 33 million pilgrims already visit Medjugorje. I guess our Blessed Mother’s Angels help in the upkeep. I came upon the bronze bas-reliefs of the Glorious Mysteries and the Stations of the Cross, at least that is what I gathered. I filmed each Mystery/Station, but I quit when more people showed up to pray around them, I didn’t want to disturb their praying. I finally came upon the statue of the Queen of Peace. There was one barefoot pilgrim their already around 5 a.m. in the morning, prostrate and seemed to be struck by the Holy Spirit. I knelt in front of the statue in my usual favorite way, in which the gaze of the Statue would be directly looking at me, in this fashion I pretended that our Blessed Mother would be looking at me. I must tell you, to me, this statue was the most happiest statue of our Blessed Mother that I have ever seen, it seemed that our Blessed Mother was ecstatic to see me, at least to me! I filmed this episode. A few minutes later, I also adored the giant Crucifix of our Lord, which was few feet back and to the left of the statue. Some pilgrims started to come up that early hour already. I spoke to one and asked him where they were from, he said, Korea. I was glad, I wondered maybe part of our Mother’s plan was to convert North Korea someday. I proceeded to go higher following the Apparition trail on the right hand side of the trail, it soon veered to the left and I had sneaking suspicion it encircled that Apparition site and returned to Medjugorje. I decided to go off the trail in my quest to find the very first Apparition site. I came upon many large boulders and soon was making my way by traversing on top of them, I soon knew this was not going to work, the bushes didn’t help either, I decided to go back to the main trail. I then came upon a small trail leading up from the top of the main trail, I followed it. On my way I came upon many Rosaries and small Crosses, I guess left behind by previous pilgrims. I kept following the trail but was bothered by flies and bushes, also large spiders started to weave their web between some bushes, and it seemed the higher I went, the larger the spiders, they looked like tarantulas The trail finally came to an end, almost to the top of Apparition Hill. But before I got there, I noticed a spot where all the flies stop pestering me. Then I noticed a White Cross about fifty feet further by some long stems, it seemed to be in a tall grassy area. But it didn’t seem to be safe to be gallivanting there, so I didn’t. Also, I had a feeling this was too far for the Cross which marked the first Apparition Site. When I made my was back, I noticed that the same spot where the flies stopped buzzing, and a cool breeze blew made itself apparent again. I stood there and wondered why, I looked down, and low and behold, I saw a large stone Cross embedded in the ground, I also saw a smaller Cross to it’s right, and two smaller Crosses on it’s top right, but perpendicular to it. Hmmm, I wondered, what did this signify? Well anyway, it was already around 6:30 a.m., and I decided to go back around the main Apparition trail and back home for breakfast. I was already drenched, and had to take a shower and change before breakfast, I had something to talk about at breakfast. As a side note, I did let Ana and Snezzy know of my adventure. Snezzy said, not to venture to far anymore, some pilgrims have perished. Ana also told me there were jumper snakes, poisonous snakes that jump on you. The rest of the day was relatively uneventful, but I finally got a 360 degree view of St. James. Also got some water from the water fountain in St. James Church, to be later blessed by the Priests after Holy Mass, and become miraculous Medjugorje water! Before Mass, part of our group went to visit the risen Jesus statue behind St. James Church. It was at the end of the shrine of the Luminous Mysteries. A drop of water miraculously emanated from below the right knee of Jesus, no one knows why. In my opinion emanating miraculously makes it Miraculous Water! I was able to get a drop and bless myself with it. Right before Holy Mass, Fr. Svet was locking the side doors, so the Italians wouldn’t get in during the end of the Mass. They had the nasty habit of coming in during the last part of the Mass so they can get a good seat during the Italian Mass which was after the English Mass. I was able to greet him by asking him if he remembered me from the Medjugorje Irvine Peace Conference, in Irvine, California, he did! After Mass someone notice Sr. Emmanuel taking a picture with a few pilgrims inside the Church. I didn’t know who she was, but I think I did hear about her. Since I’ve seen her taking a picture earlier with other pilgrims in the Church, I thought she wouldn’t mind if I asked her, I did, and she said, “I don’t have time.” I accepted it, what else could I do, but I started feeling sorry for myself, and I imagined myself as the cartoon character Charlie Brown in a halloween t.v. presentation, in where he and a group of kids were trick and treating, and he always got a rock instead of candy, oh well. When we were walking out of the Church, Sr. Emmanuel came rushing past me to talk to one of my pilgrim friends, Karen. I then asked my Karen what Sister wanted, she said, Sr. Emmanuel saw a little girl who said to her to invite my friend to her prayer meeting that day a 3 p.m.? We then proceeded to Sr. Emmanuel’s house to pray, she wasn’t there. But one of her friends who was helping with her widow/orphan charity was there, and he let us in. It was past 3 p.m., but Sr. Emmanuel still wasn’t there, so we decided to pray the 23rd Anniversary Novena, which I had. She later arrived and told us it was the next day, well all understood it was that day, at least we prayed at her house. Before I turned in that day, I made a mental map how to reach the very first Apparition site of our Blessed Mother. I noticed sort of a clearing or meadow leading up to the White Cross. That was my plan of action, I would reach the White Cross via that meadow. Day 4, Monday, 6/21/04 Next morning I left my dormitory about 4:30 a.m., in quest of the White Cross. I asked Karen, one of my pilgrim friends, to go with we, but she didn’t show up. Later, I’m glad she didn’t, because the trek was very tough. Instead when I was walking I heard footsteps behind me, it was Joe, an older man than me, and a pilgrim, that came along in our group, he wanted to go up with me. It was still not light enough to show Joe the path that I wanted to go up by, but I described it to him. Basically it was a few meters below the main Apparition trail, and parallel to it. So we entered the hill well before the main entrance. First we found a nice trail in the bushes, so we followed it because it seemed to be heading to the hill. But we were soon dismayed because it headed to a, what we believed, to be a monasterial building. We turned back and headed through bushes and boulders, after we passed through a stone fence. The climb up was very, very tough, and I was sweating buckets and breathing very hard. As I said, I worked out almost daily, jogging for half an hour, so I wasn’t totally out of shape. I worried about Joe, him being an older gentlemen, but to my amazement he was dry as a bone and not breathing hard at all. He told me he was a scoutmaster and hiking was second nature to him. We proceeded, and literally were just walking on boulders, through thorns and branches, sometimes encountering large spiders. After much struggle, I was disheartened, and couldn’t find that meadow clearing that I saw from where we were staying. I caught a glimpse of the main Apparition trail and headed for it. Joe and I decided to go to the Apparition statue, since yesterday the our group was scheduled to pray the Rosary in front of it around 6:30 a.m.. We saw a few pilgrims already praying the Glorious Mysteries. We sat with them to finish up and also to take a breather. Afterwards, I asked Joe to make one last attempt to find the White Cross, he said, he would just follow me. He said this a lot, even though I would ask him where he thought we should go. When I was making my mental maps where we were staying, I did make mental landmarks. The White Cross was to the right of the Apparition statue, and below and to the left of a hill-top mound of Apparition Hill. The start of that mound was marked by different colored foliage, which I memorized. When Joe and I proceeded to make our way to the right side of the Apparition trail, I recognized the color of the foliage. I told Joe, this is where we’ll enter the foliage again. There seemed to be a small clearing, so we entered at that spot. Joe spotted a trail which you could make out, because it seemed to be traveled somewhat, by it’s more earthy color. I followed Joe for a bit, but I recalled that the Cross was below the colored foliage that I memorized. Joe and I then said a prayer to our Blessed Mother, to please not to look at our sins, but instead to our efforts, to help us find the spot. Joe kept on the trail, which seemed to be going uphill, I proceeded downhill and soon encountered the same boulders. I recognized the boulders in my mental landmarks, but I wasn’t sure whether the Cross was below or above them. I then heard Joe say, Rafael, Rafael, I found it! I soon followed his voice and asked him where he was? He said, follow the trail, so I did. I soon found Joe and the White Cross, I was overjoyed. This was one of the milestones of my life. We knelt down and said our twenty decade Rosary, another one of my milestones. During the Rosary, I remember at times, unable to go on, because I was overcome with emotion, but we did finish. We then took some pictures, and went downhill, this time the easy way to a shower and breakfast. But before that, we paid a short visit to the Blue Cross, which was at the bottom of the hill. I guess our Blessed Mother thinks of everything, she knew there would be people, who it would be physically impossible to climb Apparition Hill. And the Blue Cross, at the base of the hill, was Her answer.
At very first Medjugorje apparition site Later on that day, after Mass, we heard a famous Croatian Priest who seemed to be speaking with the language of Angels. You can tell from his eyes, he was very holy. Around three o’clock in the afternoon, some pilgrims and I headed again to Sr. Emmanuel’s place by her invitation to one of our pilgrim friends, Karen. There were people from other tour groups also. She prayed a five decade Rosary which lasted about two and half hours with her insights. One of my pilgrim friends, who was kind of big, during sister’s talk, broke his plastic chair while he was sitting on it. We all came to his aid immediately, he was pretty embarrassed. And I couldn’t forget what Sr. Emmanuel said, “Stop doing that!” Which was kind of humorous for me, because it wasn’t my pilgrim friend’s fault? A few things that I did like about Sr. Emmanuel’s prayer garden, was the large Crucifix of Jesus and the statue of our Blessed Mother. I was kind of dismayed, when I filmed that statue of our Blessed Mother, because there were some bugs below her ear. If it was my statue, I would of made sure those bugs were cleared out. Day 5, Tuesday, 6/22/04 The next day, before breakfast, a few of the pilgrims in our group accepted my invitation to go to the Cenacolo, which is a home away from home for young men involved with drugs. I knew about this place since some of the boys came to a previous Medjugorje Irvine Conference in California, and spoke about their place, it was very moving. We came there around 7 a.m. and stood at the gate. I was hoping for heaven’s favor for someone to notice us and open up the gate. I also knew they had a religious articles store that was famous for their artwork, and would readily welcome pilgrims. Someone did come by and let us in, and low and behold we were in time for their daily 7 a.m. Mass in Croatian in their Chapel. In the backdrop was a beautiful mural painted by the boys. It seemed to be painted by a artistic master instead of the boys. It was truly a miraculously inspired painting. The boys were very kind and courteous to us. They even offered to seat us next to some translator boys who were translating Croatian to English to some of the boys there. We declined, even though we didn’t understand Croatian. We knew what they were saying, since the Mass is basically the same all over the world. After Mass we visited their art store. I knew about this, since I did buy a beautiful picture of our Lady of Medjugorje, which is the most beautiful picture of her I have ever seen and life like. I bought it a Medjugorje Irvine Peace Conference. I commented to the boys who were manning the register about my personal involvement with a Church Ministry at a location around were I live called “Boys Republic”. This is a place were young men who get in trouble with law get a second chance and go there to study, and get physical exercise and discipline instead of going to juvenile hall. Before we left one of the boys gave me a free video cassette and some literature so that I may show the boys at Boys Republic about Cenacolo. You see Boy’s Republic, as opposed to Cenacolo, is like a communism, there is only study and physical exercise, but no religious study, this is where my Church Ministry comes in. I go about twice a month, and on the 2nd Wednesday, I talk a little about our Blessed Mother and teach them how to pray the Holy Rosary. And on the last Wednesday of each month, I was blessed to be able to get a Priest to hear confessions and say Mass. Maybe if I show this tape to the boys at Boy’s Republic they may go a Cenacolo if they don’t have any other recourse. I think Cenacolo also have locations in California and other places in the United States. I know one thing, these boys are fertile ground to plant the seed of reconversion. Later on that week we did visit the Cenacolo again, but I wasn’t sure whether or not our pilgrimage group would be visiting here, so I decided to go on my own with my pilgrim buddies. I’m glad my pilgrim buddies went along, so were they. After the English Mass that same morning, our pilgrimage group was blessed to hear Ivan talk in St. James main hall. It was stirring and I filmed part of it. It seems every time I view it part of the message is new, or has brand new meaning, like if it was the first time I ever heard it. But his message is our Blessed Mother’s message which is always the same, simple and straight forward, basically to pray and love one another. He also announced there would be a public Apparition around 10:30 p.m., I couldn’t wait, and I was determined to get a front row seat, sort of speak. After Ivan’s talk I ran to ask him for a picture with me, he said, he didn’t have time, (another rock). I asked him if he remembered the Irvine Medjurgorje Conference, he said he did. After Ivan’s talk, we all were told to gather around the favorite meeting area (a tree) of Snezana because we were going out of town to hear Fr. Jozo speak. I finally had a chance to view the surrounding area of Medjugorje, remembering faintly some of the stories as spoken about in Wayne Warble’s books involving these areas. On the way there we heard the sad stories of the 40 martyred Franciscan Priests who were burned alive for not refusing their faith, right in front of the Church we visited. They had their images in the Church. When we arrived, the statue of our Blessed Mother was in the entrance. I think this was the statue of Mary during the Assumption. It was the same figure as Wayne Weible’s latest book, The Final Harvest. I remember Fr. Jozo during an Irvine Medjugorje Conference. It was the very first one I went to. I asked him to put his hands on my head and my spouse’s, to pray over us. My spouse isn’t religious, and needless to say she was angry at me because she did not want to be there. Fr. Jozo said he would bless us, but we had to stay. I wanted to stay but my spouse still insisted in leaving. Fr. Jozo blessed us anyway. After Fr. Jozo’s talk he have us all a free blessed Rosary and picture of our Blessed Mother. He later started to put his hand on people’s head for spiritual healing, many passed out, or to put it in other words, slain by the Holy Spirit. I tried to get a blessing but this heavy set women in front of me was blessed and I wasn’t ready to catch her. I did, but I was surprised. Fr. Jozo gave me a dirty look, saying with his eyes, be careful! I didn’t get his blessing. I again started to feel sorry for myself, feeling like Charlie Brown, with my third rock. I tried again to get a blessing from Fr. Jozo. And in the back of my mind, I remembered Snezzy’s story on the bus on the way to the Church, that there was a wiccan witch who went with their group before, and tried to take some of Fr. Jozo’s power., Fr. Jozo bypassed her. I was saying to myself, maybe Fr. Jozo thinks I’m too evil. Well anyway, I noticed a newly ordained Irish Priest (only two weeks, mentioned to us in a previous mass) who was blessing people. Fr. Jozo’s assistant told him not to bless people in that line, because it was Fr. Jozo’s line. I felt sorry for him, so I asked him to bless me, he did, and I was happy for him. We then returned to Medjugorje, and I started to feel sorry for myself, in my perception of Fr. Jozo’s rejection. After dinner, that same day, I immediately made my way up Apparition Hill around 6:30 p.m. to get a good location. It was in front of our Blessed Mother’s statue, right in the spot where she is looking at you. I knew it was going to be torture, sort of speak, to wait until 10:30 p.m.. But I remembered a past Irvine Conference, in where Wayne Weible was letting in anyone who wanted to be in the same Apparition room with Ivan and Vicka. I badly wanted to be there, but I felt unworthy. Eventually I ended up outside the Apparition room. I was determined to be in front of our Blessed Mother this time. Ana told us that Ivan has stated whenever our Blessed Mother appears on Apparition Hill, the statue itself turns into Her. So I was determined that in my mind, that She would know I was there, because I would be right in front of Her! I did my entire twenty decade Rosary, plus other prayers. I was tired because of all the events of that day. Fortunately a couple of my pilgrimage buddies were there also, and we chatted and prayed together to pass the time better.
Pilgrimage buddies & myself before apparition It was getting dark and pretty crowded, and around 9:30 p.m.. The boys from the Cenacolo came and started to sing beautiful songs that still resound in my mind. During that time a gentlemen came by and put a large rock within the fenced boundary in front of the statue of the Blessed Mother, he wanted Her to bless it. Good for him, I smiled at him in approval, since I couldn’t speak his language. I know what is the craving to be near our Blessed Mother during an apparition. I was telling my pilgrimage buddies, it’s like the movie, First Encounters of the Third Kind, where the actor, Richard Dryfuss, was obsessed at being at a certain hill to meet aliens. In my case, it was Apparition Hill and the Blessed Mother, not aliens.
People before apparition A few minutes later a couple of young men dressed in Clerical clothing and a young woman came in past the crowd and planted themselves in front of the statue. I said to myself these must be young people pretending to be Priests or Monks in order to get a good place for the Apparition. One was actually pushing up against me and I couldn’t move. What did he want to do, take my place? No way, I was there for hours, and I earned that spot! If he wanted to have it he should of came earlier. A couple of minutes later, someone told me that the girl who were with the young mean was actually Marija, one of the Visionaries, it was unbeknownst to me. So I worked up the courage to ask her if she was, and she said yes. I then asked her if I could take a picture with her, she said no, (another rock). A few minutes later she got up because she was invited to go to the prayer group. Eventually the singing turned to praying and then everyone kneeled towards the statue, indicating that the Apparition was taking place. I already had my petitions, which included several other hand written petitions of other people that I knew, right in front of the statue. I had my camera on all the time. No one notice since my camera was a film camera and it had no light. I was hoping to film some miraculous images, I didn’t. I was so overjoyed in being right in front of the Blessed Mother during the Apparition that I forgot all of my personal petitions and the only thing I could say was, “Blessed Mother, help me do God’s will”, over and over again. I felt tears coming out of my eyes. I heard briefly some praying, then more silence, then rustling indicating the Apparition was over. I took my petitions, and so did the individual who placed his rock in front of the statue, I told him that our Blessed Mother must of kissed his rock, he just smiled. Then the message was made known in several languages. My buddies and I then made our way down Apparition Hill and back to our dormitory. Another one of my milestones was completed, thanks be to God. The following is the message from our Blessed Mother:
“Dear Children,
I call all of you in a special way. Dear
children I call you all in
this time of grace. This is why I am inviting all
of you to pray,
pray at this time to be open to the Holy Spirit. Day 6, Wednesday, 6/23/04 The next morning we all went as a group to the Oasis of Peace. You had to remain quiet. We came upon the Chapel and Snezzy would not let me film inside. Inside the Chapel was a crucified Christ, it seemed so life-like, and it was the most tortured figure of Christ I had ever seen. After the morning English Mass was Fr. Svet’s talk, and boy was it a good one. Fr. Svet had, in my opinion, the knowledge of Angels. Things that stood out from Fr. Svet’s talk was his description in how we all seek to control things in our world, not letting God to do His holy will. Also, when he spoke about our pilgrimage in Medjugorje, in where we would experience a Cross, and then a victory. You see this part of His message struck me deeply because it happened to me. During my stay in Medjugorje an incident happened which hurt my pride deeply, it wasn’t easy buy I decided to try to respond with love, and trial turned into a victory. During the depths of my trial, I asked myself the same questions Fr. Svet said we would ask of ourselves, and that is, what am I doing here? I feel like throwing in the towel! Etc., etc.. In addition, I think what Fr. Svet was saying that your weakness will be exposed in Medjugorje, but our Blessed Mother will give you the answer and the grace in order to conquer it. This may of happened to you also, and maybe to all who come to Medjugorje. But here there are copious graces in order to overcome any spiritual adversity. There is also one thing that I wanted to point out during the answer and question session of Fr. Svet’s talk. Someone asked him about John Kerry, a so-called Catholic American politician running for President of the United States. Essentially the person asking the question was complaining about Kerry’s pro-choice stance and how it stood in direct contradiction to Catholic teaching. Fr. Svet responded in a beautiful way, essentially he said if abortion was an important issue as it should be, we Catholics wouldn’t have so-called Catholic politicians with a pro-choice stance. It is us Catholics who vote these politicians who have the problem. If Catholics vote for pro-choice politicians, then we will have politicians who are pro-choice. But if we Catholics vote for Pro-life Candidates then we wouldn’t have abortion in our country. This part comes from me, VOTE PRO-LIFE IN THE UPCOMING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS and KERRY IS NOT PRO-LIFE. That is enough politicking from me. After Fr. Svet’s talk, I rushed out to get a picture with him. I knew he would not say no, since he already knew me from the Irvine Medjugorje Conference. I asked him, he recognized me, and he reluctantly took a picture with me. I was satisfied.
Fr. Svet & myself I am not sure of the timelines, but I think that afternoon was Marija’s talk, she looked so beautiful, she reminded me of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I was with Annemarie, one of the pilgrims, and we decided to sit on the side on a table, same as Ivan’s talk. It was getting pretty crowded, and I notice two Nuns walk in, one was younger and the other was definitely older. They both looked around but there were no seats. The older one seemed to be very dismayed, since I knew how hard it is to stand for long periods of time. Her eyes met mine and I offered her my seat, I couldn’t help it. She was very happy and I kissed her on the cheek. I decided to take the furthest location away from the Visionary, actually on the farthest corner of the hall. I gave up in trying to get a picture, or speak with the Visionaries, or try to have a friendly relationship with them. I’ve been getting so many rocks I decided just to be literally in the background. When I started to film Marija’s talk I noticed even from that distance, that I felt she was looking straight at me. I filmed for a little bit at full magnification, and it seemed she was constantly looking at me. I then I put down my camera. I took out my small binoculars just to get a better look at her, and again it seemed she was constantly looking at me. She would look at the crowd, but it seemed she would be glancing at me constantly, even though I was the farthest one away from her, or so I thought. I decided to sit down out of her sight and listen to her instead, besides I was tired. After she spoke I got up, and again I felt her eyes on me. I was just curious, so I raised my hand quickly to say hi, SHE DID TOO. It was surprising, but she was looking at me for whatever reason, I just hope it was a good one. My imagination was racing with me in these situations, why was she looking at me? Maybe because I was evil, etc., etc.. But in the end, her little wave made my day, and I will never forget it for the rest of my life. Marija, in my mind, was actually looking at me for whatever reason, or maybe it was just coincidence
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