The hamlet of Medjugorie lies in the former Yugoslavia, in the mountainous region of Herzegovina, some 30 km away from the town of Mostar. The parish and its neighbourhood are populated mainly by Roman Catholic Croats. Since times immemorial, all parishes in this region have been administered by Franciscan fathers. In a wider region, however, three worlds meet each other: Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim. The church in Medjugorie was erected in 1969. Nearby are two important mountains: Crnica and Križevac. On Mt. Križevac, the locals built a 12-m-high cross of reinforced concrete in 1933 to commemorate the 1900th anniversary of Christ's death and resurrection.

Visions

   It was Wednesday, June 24, 1981. Ivanka and Mirjana, two secondary-school students - one from Mostar, the other from Sarajevo - had recently come to spend their holiday with their relatives. They walked along a road to Crnica. In a stony place called Podbrdo, Ivanka suddenly spotted in front of her a shining silhouette whose contours were initially indistinct: it was a young maiden with a tender, beaming face wearing a gray dress. The figure hovered low above the ground. Ivanka cried out: "Look, Gospa!" (Gospa is Croatian for the Mother of God corresponding to Our Lady).
   Mirjana answered in disbelief: "How on earth could we see Gospa?"
   Some time later the two girls together with Milka went to Crnica again to bring home a flock of sheep. This time Gospa was seen by all of them. They called also another girl, Vicka, who happened to walk along that road at that time. On seeing Gospa, Vicka panicked, took off her shoes and ran away barefoot.
   Furher persons to come to the place of the incident were Ivan Dragičevič with another boy. At the sight of Gospa Ivan threw away his bag and fled.
   The excited girls then came back. Milka and the boy who came with Ivan did not see Gospa any more.

June 25, 1981

   Ivanka (born in 1966) and Mirjana (born in 1965) went roughly at the same time (18.30 o'clock) to the same place. Vicka (born in 1964), Ivan (born in 1965), Jakov (born in 1971) and Marija (born in 1965) came there later. Once again, the children saw Gospa on the hill. Vicka sprinkled the vision with holy water and said: In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit! If you are the Mother of God, stay here. But, if you are not, go away!"
   The Mother of God just smiled.
   Mirjana asked Her who she was and what her name was. The Mother of God replied: "I am the Blessed Virgin Mary."
   Three days after the vision, on June 26, 1981, Our Lady said this message: Peace, peace, nothing but peace! Let people make peace with God and among themselves. Let they believe, pray, fast, regret their wrong-doing and turn to God.
   She later identified herself as the Queen of Peace and expressed hope that June 25 would be celebrated as the feast of the Queen of Peace.
   (Mary quoted from the Holy Scripture: "From now on I will be blessed by all generations, since the one who is powerful and whose name is holy made great things for me." Lk 2, 46-49).
   Then a big omen appeared in the sky: A women dressed in the Sun with the Moon beneath her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head... She gave birth to a son, a boy destined to rule all nations with an iron sceptre (Vis 12, 1-6). The woman personifies Messiah's Mother (Iz 7, 11, 14, Mich 5, 2) who gave birth to Christ (P 2, 9).
   I will put hostility between you and a woman, between your children and her children. She will trample your head (Gen 3, 15). The woman is Our Lady who will trample the serpent's head and save manking from him. The victorious son is the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.
   Our Lady is the Mother of God.
   On the third day of the vision (June 26, 1981) at 18,15, a glare appeared three times above the horizon above the place of the vision. It stretched from the ground as high as the sky. Seen by people from a wide area, the extraordinary glare lured people from the nearby villages Bijakovica, Medjugorie, Miletina and even from the district capital Čitluk. An estimated 3,000 people gathered there that night. Everyone wanted to be as close to the visionaries as possible. In the ensuing throng, Ivanka and Mirjana fainted.
   Gospa taught the children various prayers and prayed with them. Gospa never prays with them Hail, Mary.
   Father Jozo Zovko told the children to ask Gospa to appear in the local church instead of on the hill. Gospa agreed and since January 14, 1982 the visions moved to the church.

Interrogations

   Police officers repeatedly took the children to Čitluk and Mostar for interrogations. The children withstood all the assaults with unyielding bravery.
   Caption on page 49: Vicka, Ivan and Marija during a vision in Medjugorie on August 15, 1985.

   They fended off threats aimed to stop them from going to the hill again and to speak about their visions. Militia guarded the houses of the visionaries in a bid to prevent them from leaving for the hill.
   The police sealed off the Crnica area and trespassers faced hefty fines. All bus connections to Medjugorie were cancelled. The locals were prohibited to accomodate outsiders. The ban applied for some time also to hotels in Čitluk. Even so, pilgrims from Yugoslavia and elsewhere thronged Medjugorie.
   The police questioned the children's relatives too.
   Army units with dogs and submachine guns were called in to block access to the hill. The local church was planked and guarded. Nevertheless, father Zovko confronted the soldiers, opened the church and administered Holy Mass in the presence of 30,000 visitors. Consequently, he was sentenced to three-and-a-half-year imprisonment. Priests Vlašič (8 years) and Križič (5 and a half year) were arrested and sentenced as well. Gospa told the children that brother Zovko greeted them from the prison.
   Soon after the first visions, the children had to undergo psychiatric examinations which indicated that they were completely healthy. Three days later they were driven to Mostar for further medical examinations. Again, their psychical state was found to be entirely good.
   In 1984, the visionaries were examined three times by a group of French physicians from Montpellier, even during the visions.
   "The examinations indicate that these young people are sane, healthy in mind and body. They show no signs of epilepsy, trauma or hypochondria. They suffer neither from hysteria, nor catalepsy (pathological limb stiffness). The visionaries' ecstasies are not pathological and the visionaries pretend nothing."
   Prof. Joyeux: "The tests suggest that the person under examination is experiencing authentic reality."
  Prof. Joyeux lifted Jakov during a vision, but he did not react. The experiment was recorded on a videotape.
   Vicka was pricked twice by a needle during a vision. The wound bled, but she did not react. During another vision the children were blindfolded by a piece of white cardboard. Yet, they could see Our Lady as clearly as before. Mirjana told the truth when hypnotized by Dr. Stopar, a university professor. An encephalogram made during a vision proves that it was neither a dream, nor epilepsy.
   In September 1985, the visionaries were examined by a team of Italian physicians. Their conclusions were identical with those made by their French colleagues.
   A medical commission of the Arpa Association notified the Pope of the results of their scientific examinations of the six visionaries of Medjugorie: These phenomena cannot be explained by any natural cause.
  Priest, theologian and psychotherapeutist Slavko Barbarič: "For 30 days, immediately after the vision I asked two children to tell me what they had seen. I questioned them separately, one by one, so that they could not hear each other's answers."
   I found out that they both can see Our Lady in front of them at the same time and hear the same words from Her. Or sometimes they see Her at the same time, but She tells different things to each of them. The way of communication here is quite dissimilar from terrestrial one. Scientific observations have revealed that they are outside our space and time."
   Our Lady's answers through children to questions asked by other people are characterized by dignity, certainty, divine wisdom and facts which are beyond the comprehension of the young eyewitnesses.
   Associate professor Dr. Andreas Lann, moral-theology professor at a university of philosophy and theology (Heiligen Kreutz): "If we suspected the visionaries of a rehearsed theatre performace, we would have to award these children the highest prize - Oscar or to establish a special category for an incredible performance. For a play that has been going on every day for years."
   In 1983 alone, the visionaries of Medjugorie were examined by some 50 experts in various sciences.

Further visions

   Since 1982, two girls - Jelena Vasilij (born in 1972) and Marijana Vasilij (of equal age) have been endowed with an internal sight and hearing. These two girls experience visions of the Mother of God quite dissimilar from those of the other six visionaries. To see Gospa they have to pray and concentrate more.
   Jelena always sees Gospa dressed in white, just like the Mother of God of Fatima. Through Jelena, Gospa relays messages to us.

Jakov Čolo: "Our Lady not only appeared, She also brough evidence that she is really Her. She performed many miracles to prove Her presence. In the first days it was indicated by a strange glow, then several times by an extraordinary play of the Sun which was observed by thousands of pilgrims on May 19, 1985."
   On August 2, 1981, shortly before sunset, the Sun suddenly started rotating around its axis. It came closer for a while and then receded from the observers. The spectators included some 150 people standing on the hill of visions. They saw the Sun inside a big heart.
   On May 19, 1985, a big cross appeared in the Sun. Then the Sun turned a strange blaze of a distict color which covered nearly the whole west and gave out beams falling onto the Medjugorie church. Before long the flare was replaced by the Sun in a huge dark ring. The Sun rotated within the ring for a while and then the Sun along with the ring and the surrounding red flare sped towards the Medjugorie church.Then they stopped and receded back. Once again the Sun started rotating in the dark ring. These phenomena alternated for about 20 minutes. They were seen by about one thousand witnesses from across the world standing near the church. They all were fearful and in distress prayed for God and Our Lady.
   Dr. František Mráček from Prague, an expert in the field of physics and optics who had been studying for 40 years the transmission of pictures from the eye to the brain centre, describes this phenomenon as follows: "In Medjugorie ... the Sun lost its dazzling brightness and its whole area turned gray. I could observe it unobstructed. After a while I saw the Sun seemingly trembling within a thin bright circle and then abruptly circular waves started spreading from the circular contour. After some three minutes the normal sunshine resumed and I had to stop watching the Sun as my eyes started weeping."
  In late October 1981 a strange thing happened on Mt. Crinica. Podbrdo was guarded by the police at that time. In the morning, flames several dozens of metres high were spotted on the site of the first vision. They were observed for about 20 minutes. The police officers and a few civilians ran to the summit. As they reached the hilltop the flames died away and no trace of fire was found.
   On October 7, 1984, Louis de Desrippes saw the cross disappear and be replaced by a shining figure. He fetched his camera and managed to film the end of the miracle.
   People saw many times the cross on Mt. Križevac disappear in ligth and give way to Our Lady. Or the Mother of God was seen near the cross. When asked what these wonders meant, Gospla answered: "They are preliminary omens for those who do not believe."
   On July 2, 1981, the visionaries prayed rosary before the Holy Mass. All of a sudden, Gospa appeared before all the people. The visionaries say that She was seen also by father Zovko on this occasion.
   Barry Welling is an Englishman of Protestant descent. Until 1983 he disregarded God completely. In that year he came to Medjugorie as a driver who carried food there. And he, a Protestant, abruptly spotted Gospa.
   Mrs. Cajthamlová from Prague: "In the evening on September 3, 1989 we attended the Holy Mass administered near the church. Križevac towered behind the altar. As the Communion was being received, I suddenly heard people say: Majka, Majka! (Mother). I raised my head and saw a light silhouette of a woman on Križevac. It disappeared after two minutes, but soon a white, glowing cross emerged. After two minutes the cross disappeared and the woman figure reappeared. The pictures were quite unambiguous, clear and strongly emotional."
   The letters "MIR" (peace) were observed several times in the sky in the Medjugorie area. The brilliant letters were read by a number of witnesses.
   Young Englishman Ernest Williams: "On television I saw a film on Medjugorie. Suddenly I was overwhelmed by the desire to go to that pilgrimage place. I booked an air ticket to Dubrovnik. I didn't tell anybody where I was going, as I was ashamed of my family. I didn't say I was going to a place where Our Lady is seen for fear that everyone would think I'm insane and would laugh at me. Once in Medjugorie I received a rosary from two old Irish ladies saying: "Take it, the Mother of God told me to give it to you." I did not know what rosary was and how to pray with it. Next day the two ladies taught me to pray rosary. On a late afternoon I knelt on a meadow behind the church and prayed rosary. Then I spotted a huge fiery ball in the form of the Sacred Host a few hundreds of metres from me. It sprang from the ground, rose towards the Sun and finally dissipated."
   I left Medjugorie five days later as a completely different man, I felt I was reborn.
   Young Frenchman Gaetán: "I'm 19 years old and live near the town of Chartres. On Christmas 1993 I took part in a pilgrimage to Medjugorie. One year later, on Christmas 1994 I anxiously followed the hijack of an Air France plane from Algeria to Marseille. On that day, as is customary in Medjugorie, I started praying rosary at about 5 o'clock. I also begged Our Lady to save the hostages. Suddenly I could see exactly the vicinity of the plane and all what was happening there. Then I saw an enormous rosary to engulf the jet and heard a clear voice which told me: "Rosary is a number one weapon against the devil." In the evening I watched a TV news on the hijack. Television showed exactly the same events as I had seen in my vision. It confirmed that the hostages had been released peacefully on the orders of Our Lady."
   Father Tomislav Vlašič narrates how Jelena with himself brough a statuette of Mary's child from Lourdes to Our Lady for blessing. Tears sprang from the eyes of the Mother of God. The initially normal tears then gave way to tears of blood and ultimately to golden ones dripping on the little statuette.

   Vicka: "Three lightnings strike before she comes. She wears a gray dress and a white veil, has a dark hair, pink lips and hovers on a small cloud. She doesn't stand on the ground. On Christmas, Easter and Assumption she comes clad in a golden dress. On Christmas she is accompanied by a little Jesus. Once on a Good Friday she arrived with a grown-up Jesus. His body was dotted with wounds. His garment was torn to pieces and He had a crown of thorns on His head.
   Gospa looks like a live person, just like ourselves. She always congratulates us to our birthdays and conversely we congratulate Her to Her birthday. We shake hands, kiss each other - she is as live as we are. She treats us as if she were our mother."
   Gopsa speaks in a fine voice similar to singing, music, jingle. Unlike the children who speak a dialect, She speaks standard Croatian.
   Gospa told the children: "The visions of mine have different forms, but still I am always and everywhere the same."
   Father Janko Bubalo, a writer (died on February 21, 1997) asked the visionaries Ivan, Vicka, Marija, Ivanka and Mirjana about Gospa:
- How tall is she?
- About 160 cm.
- Does she look slender?
- She looks rather slender.
- How old is she?
- 18 to 20.
- What color is her face?
- Normal, rather white, with reddish cheeks.
- What color are her eyes?
- Her eyes are lovely, clear blue.
- How is she dressed?
- She wears a simple ladies' dress.
- Is the dress tight or loose?
- Loose.
- How long are the sleeves?
- As far as her palms.
- Does the Mother of God wear anything else apart from the dress?
- She has a veil on her head.
- What is its color?
- White.
- How long is it?
- It falls down as far as the cloud, like Her dress.
- Has the Mother of God a decoration on or around Her head?
- She has a ring of stars around Her head.
- How many stars are there?
- Twelve.
- What color are they?
- Golden.
- Does she move or make gestures with Her hands during the visions?
- No, she moves only to point to something.
- Is the Mother of God really so beautiful as you have said?
- Her beauty is beyond description. It is not beauty as we know it, it is something of a paradise, something divine what we will see only in the Eden."

Messages

   Gospa sends us messages through Marija Pavlovič on the 25th day of each month (Previously Marija received messages on Thursdays).
   Gospa conveys us messages also through Jelena and other visionaries.
   Some messages (abbreviated): I wish to send you messages as never before in the history since the creation of the world.
   Dear children, you know that I have stayed here for long to instruct you on how to walk along the path of sainthood.
   The blessed who do not see, but still trust! Let them trust as if they had seen me.
   God has sent me among you for love of man, to show you the way of salvation.
   I am here with you although you may be unaware of my presence. God wants to save you and therefore sents you messages through people, nature and many other things which may help you to understand that you have to change the world of your life.
   This time is my time and therefore I invite you once again, my kids, to pray.
   I am your mother and I have come to you to teach you obey and pray for love rather than for fear of your crosses. Each man with his cross celebrates God.
   I ask you to pray over the next nine days in order to realize all I wish to realize through mysteries which I started telling in Fatima. I urge you, dear kids, to comprehend the importance of my arrival and the gravity of the situation. I attempt to save all souls and to sacrifice them to God.
   Whenever I and my son come, the devil comes too. Unknowingly, you have permitted him to rule and direct you. Sometimes you understand that what you do is not allowed by God, but soon refuse this feeling. Don't do this, my kids! Wipe the tears on my face which I shed looking at what you do! Reserve time to approach God in church. Have time to be with your family and to pray for God'd grace. Remember your deceased. Cheer them up with you Holy Mass.
   God has selected each of you for His great plan to save the mankind. You can't understand how big your role in God's plan is. Therefore, dear kids, pray so that in prayer you can comprehend this plan which is being realized through you.
   Today I invite you to pray as never before. Satan is strong and strives to destroy not only the human race, but also nature and the planet on which you live. If you wish you can take the rosary. Rosary itself can cause miracles in the world and in your lives.
    (Note: St. Dominic (1170 - 1221) is credited with the invention of rosary. Once he saw a vision of Our Lady who taught him to pray rosary as it is practised today. Some people object to praying rosary. An excerpt from the Holy Scriptures reads: "The name of the Virgin was Mary. An angel approached her and said: "Hail, graceful lady, Lord with you ... Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. Then she cried aloud: "You are blessed among women and the child of your life is blessed too" (Lc 1, 26-41). Next we pray in rosary: St. Mary, the Mother of God, beg for us, sinners, now and in the hour of our death, amen."Our Lady is the Mother of God because Christ is God, and when he intercedes for us, he just fulfills the Holy Scripture (Mt 18, 19-20).
   Pray before a cross as great grace comes from it.
   Observe Lent as it will help to accomplish God's entire Medjugorie plan.
   I solicit all of you to bring prayers and sacrifices for my intentions so that I could bring them to God in return for what is badly needed. Forget your wishes and ask, dear children, for what God wishes and not for what is wished by yourselves.
   Pray so that a spring of love for each man flowed from your hearts. Pray also for those who hate or disdain you. Thus, with Jesus' love you will be able to eradicate all poverty in this gloomy world.
   Pray and devote more time to Jesus in order to understand and bear even the worst diseases and troubles.
   In prayer, God grants special grace. If you knew how much grace is given to you by God for your prayers, you would pray continuously.
   Prayers will show you the greatest joy and a way out of any situation. Pray rosary to win over evils by which Satan wants harm the Roman Catholic church.
   Satan will do his best to spoil all your happiness. Prayer, however, can disarm him and protect your happiness.
   The more you pray, the more you will belong to Me and to my Son Jesus.
   Pray and help Me to help you.
   Only in prayer you can understand my arrival here. Holy Ghost will enlighten you in prayer in order to comprehend that you must amend yourselves.
   Pray to recognize God's love and clemency. God Savior's clemency and love include also Me as a gift.
   Today I invite you in a special way to take up a cross and contemplate Jesus' wounds. Beg Jesus to heal your wounds which have been inflicted on you during your life for your or your parents' sins.
   Today, dear children, I invite you to celebrate God so that God's Name was sacred in your hearts and life. Children, when you are in God's shrine, God is with you and grants you peace and joy that come from Him only through a prayer. I stay by you and intercede with God on behalf of you.
   Let's wish, dear children, that you find some time for a personal prayer. I wish to see you praying with your hearts. It is the only way to comprehend how empty life is without a prayer. You will find the sense of your life by discovering God in prayer. Therefoe, kids, open the door of your heart and understand that prayer is joy without which you cannot live.
   Today I want to invite you to pray every day for souls in the purgatory. Each soul needs a prayer and grace to reach God and God's love. Thereby, dear children, you will find new interceders for yourselves.
   If God is with you, you have everything. But if you reject Him, you are poor and lost, because you do not know whom you support. Therefore, dear children, opt for God and you will get all.
   Today I wish to wrap up all of you in my cloak and lead you along the way of conversion. No one can be happy with sin.
   I do not want you to spread messages and at the same time commit sins, I would not like that.
   Let the ill have faith and pray. I cannot help anybody who does not pray or does not strive. The ill and the others who are not ill may observe the Lent or to pray for the ill. If you pray more and fast with stamina for the same thing, God will grant more mercy.
   In prayer you will find the greatest happiness and a means to solve any situation however irresolvable it may seem.
   People must trust God and be prepared to die anytime.
   I cannot give you a hand if you disregard God's Commandments.
   I am with you and am going to sacrifice you to Jesus in a special way now in this now age when it is necessary to choose Him. This time is a time of grace.
   Resolve, my children, it is time to make a decision. Read the Holy Scripture to reveal secrets which I pass to you. Through prayers and lent you can avert war and eliminate the laws of nature.
   Keep bowing to the Holy Eucharist.
   I, your Mother, reiterate that you do not pray enough.
   caption on page 52: Mirjana seeing a vision of the Queen of Peace
   Read the Bible at home on weekdays. Put it in a place where everyone can see it.
   Through love you will fulfill all, even objectives that you think are unrealistic.
   You cannot make peace, kids, as long as Jesus is not in your hearts. That is why I invite you to confess your sins so that Jesus is your Truth and peace.
   (Jesus Christ told the apostles: "Embrace the Holy Ghost, sins will be forgiven to those chosen by you and will remain for those chosen by you." (Jn 20, 22-23).
   Thereby Christ established the sacrament of penance. The power to forgive or not to forgive sins passed from the apostles to bishops and in turn from bishops to priests. The spiritual power of the church can be handed over only by putting one's hands on the apostles. Christ wanted to highlight God's forgiveness through the church. Christ gave priests and bishops a hand - guidance by Holy Ghost (who descended on them according to Holy Scripture) the capacity to decide whether or not a deed is a sin.)
   Prepare internally at least half an hour before the Holy Mass since it is greater than anything else.
   Today I invite you to sacrifice your crosses and your suffering for my intentions.
   Don't look with disdain on a penniless man asking you for a crust of bread. Don't send him away from your laid table. Help him and God will help you.
   Open yourselves to God and God will give you all you need.
   Humility, prayer and deeds of love. Do not seek riches.
   Turn off your TV and other things that you do not need.
   Renounce television too. It is a chain which makes you unable to pray. Television has replaced God in families.
   Above all refrain from watching TV programmes. They pose a serious threat for your families. Likewise, drop alcohol and smoking and various sorts of merry-making.
   Today there are so many children without parents, so many others slained in their mother's body. Dear children, pray that mothers do not kill their unborn offsprings.
   Peace brings love and love brings forgiveness. I am with you and urge all of you, kids, to forgive your family members first and then you will be able to forgive also other people.
   God has sent me to you for love, to help you understand that without Him there is no future, nor joy, and above all no eternal redemption. God gives himself to those who seek Him.
   Saint martyr died saying: "I'm a Christian and I love God above all!" God has summoned you to be His hands stretched towards those who disbelieve in order to convince them to embrace the faith and love to God.
   God presents me with this time as a gift for you so that I could teach you and lead you along the way of salvation. Now, dear children, you don't understand this grace, but soon you'll be sad not to receive these messages any more. Open your hearts to me through your rosary so that I can give you a hand.
   My eyes and my Heart will remain here although I will no longer appear here.
   God has allowed me to stay with you for long, and that is why, kids, I invite you to experience with love the messages which I give you and to spread them throughout the globe, so that the river of love flows into the whole mankind that is currently full of hatred and anxiety.
   Children, I want all of you to be active in this time that is strangely connected with heavens through Me. Pray to comprehend that you all are needed to propagate salvation through your lives and good example. I will intercede for you to be a light. Help the others, and throught helping them your soul will be saved.
   Today I invite you to open yourselves to God Savior so that he can amend you. Through you I wish to renew the world. You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
   I have no right to force anyone to do anything against his will. You have got your sense and will.

Closer to God

   Initially numbering only ten, the group of young faithful, which formed around the visionaries, began having prayer sessions. Gospa asked them to contact Her throught their prayers. The visionaries regularly
   saw visions of Gospa that talked to them. Later, pilgrims joined in. The group keeps growing. All its members experienced strange things and "Gospa's school" taught them a lot, but they are not allowed to speak about it for the time being. Visionary Ivan is most frequently present in this group.
   A second prayer group formed at Gospa's request which She conveyed through Jelena in May 1983. The group should consist of young people who wanted to be completely devoted to God. It was headed by father Tomislav Vlašič. In 1986, Gospa asked father Vlašič through a visionary to establish an association. The Queen of Peace, we are completely yours - throuth Mary to Jesus. The group members made promises and accepted monk robes. The association has been accepted by the archbishop of Chieti, Italy.
   Inspired by Medjugorie, Marija Pavlovič's husband, Paolo Lunetti, founded several prayer groups in Italy.
   In Austria alone there are some 300 such groups that adhere to the message from Medjugorie. An annual meeting of Medjugorie pilgrims takes place in Aylesford, England. The Holy Mass there is celebrated by 64 concelebrators. These meetings are increasingly attended by Anglicans and Christians of other denominations.
   On Wednesdays and Fridays, Gospa wants the members of the prayer groups to eat and drink nothing else but bread and water, to pray at least three hours a day (or at least half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening), to attend the Holy Eucharist every day if possible, to attend the prayer association once a week, etc.
   Father Ljubičič says that some association members endowed with special endurance pray as long as 12 to 15 hours a day.
   Visionary Mirjana, a mother of two, said in 1995: "I get up at half past four to spend half an hour praying before the others wake up. During the day I always pray rosary of joy with my children. In the evening we, without children, pray the whole rosary and seven paternosters. Then I pray other prayers at the request of Our Lady."
   Visionary Ivan: "I pray three hours a day as Gospa wants me. In the morning, noon and evening. In 1984, before I went to attend a mass, Gospa unexpectedly came up and told me to announce the priests that she wanted all people to pray three hours a day."
   The visionaries asked Gospa what is the best kind of Lent: "A lent with bread and water" she replied.

   Vicka:  "Gospa doesn't want the ill to fast just on bread and water, but for love to Jesus, to abstain from something else what they like on that day."

Secrets

   During her visions Gospa gradually revealed secrets to the children, each child being told different secrets. A total of ten secrets were revealed. The secrets regard individual periods of the future of the whole mankind, world as well as Medjugorie itself. The visionaries must not reveal the secrets. Two of them will happen before the big omen which will be given by Gospa on the mountain where the first omens appeared. The omen itself will be a third secret. The secrets will come shortly one by one.
   It is known that some of the ten secrets are bad, whereas the third, fourth, fifth and the sixth one are mostly good. The adverse secrets stem from the mankind's sins and may be annulled if the world amends.
   A Medjugorie priest, Mr. Vlašič, wrote a letter to the Holy Father based on testimonies of the visionaries. Among other things he wrote that the ninth and tenth secrets regard retribution for the world's sins. The retribution can be eased or averted altogether through prayers and penance. The evil which the world faced according to the seventh secret has been eased by fast and prayer. Some events on the Earth will serve as warnings. They will take place during Mirjana's life. She says that the events foretold by Our Lady are due to happen soon.
   Father Bubalo asked Ivanka if Gospa revealed her anything of the ninth secret. Ivanka: "I would die, if I revealed the realization of the ninth secret."
   Upon Gospa's request, Mirjana chose father Peter Ljubičič as her confessor. She will notify him what is going to happen ten days before the secrets will realize. He will be allowed to read them after a week of fast and prayers, and will make them public three days before their realization.
   Father Ljubičič: "The first secret most probably regards Medjugorie. The first two secrets are a rebuke to all of us. Everyone who will come here after the event will see that the Mother of God was here and that these children told the truth. It will be compelling evidence.
   Gospa has promised that she will give a big omen in Medjugorie. It will be beautiful, big, sudden, continuous, tangible and indestructible. On seeing the omen on Mt. Crnica, many people will believe, walk atop the mountain and beg for clemency and forgiveness.
   The omen will be preceded by fore-omens in many parts of the world. Gospa said that many would not believe until the promised omen is given. Then they will hurry there to beg for clemency, but it will be too late. The time of clemency that we are having now will have been over by then.
   Jakov: "I saw the omen for myself. I know the exact day when it is due to take place."
   Jakov, Ivanka and Mirjana already know ten secrets. Vicka, Marija and Ivan so far
know nine secrets.
   All the visionaries except for Marija Pavlovič know exactly when the secrets will realize.
   On June 25, 1986 Mirjana explained Italian pilgrims how the secrets were revealed to the visionaries: "Gospa gave me a simple special letter on which ten secrets are written. It is made of a material that I can't describe... It is neither paper, not fabric. The text is invisible, but at the right time I will pass the letter to the designated priest. He will be endowed with the ability to read first the first secret and then the others."
   Gospa gave Ivanka written instructions for the Pope on how to deal with some complicated situations that should take place by the end of the century. They are written on a strange material, something between parchment and silk.

   Ivanka: "People ask me what the future of Medjugorie or the Church will be like. But it is secret and I mustn't answer questions like that."
   Gospa: "Here are my secrets, my children. That is what nobody knows, and when he or she learns that it will be too late! I wanted the Lord to allow me to explain the secrets, but too much grace has already been granted to you. Think of how much you give to Him! When did you last gave up someting for the Lord?"
   Little Jakov did not disclose his secret even when a police interrogator aimed his gun at him.
  Each of the six visionaries will eventually know ten secrets. Their visions will end after some time, and Gospa's secrets will start realizing.
  Vicka said that the third secret (omen) will come during her life at a time when only one of the visionaries has visions every day.
   Message passed to Mirjana on March 18, 1995: "If your hearts are open to your Father and full of love to Him, why should you be affraid of what will come? Scared are those who do not love, as they await retribution for their emptiness and hardheadedness."
   The visionaries themselves face the future with optimism. Marija Pavlovič Lunetti has two children: "I long to have even more kids."
   Mirjana, a mother of two: "We have never foretold the future. Gospa didn't want us to do so. I trust divine love and therefore I was not affraid of having children. Gospa does not tell ne anything hard. She sees that many people fear the future. They come here horrified and ask whether Gospa has said what will happen in the world. This attitude is not correct. We shouldn't ask questions like that about the future; instead, we should live love. Don't be affraid of giving birth to children. Instead, you should be scared of not having them. This message comes directly from Gospa. Once the secrets are made public, you will understand why it is so important to have many children. What do you think, why do I wish to have plenty of kids? I have learnt that all worries about what will be and what will happen are completely groundless. One has to entrust his fate and family into God's hands and then he can be sure that God will help him and will not turn him down. Despite all our problems, worries and shortcomings. He does what is best for us."

   Susan Whitemor, 22-year-old American from Connecticut: "At the age of 18 I suffered encephalitic. Terrible pain prevented me from walking. So I left for Medjugorie (in an invalid chair). On July1, 1991 I met father Zovki. When he blessed me, I became filled with some heat, peace and happiness. Suddenly I began feeling well. I managed to leave the chair. I could walk to the summit of Podbrdo completely unassisted." Susan returned home walking, enirely healthy.
   Nicola Pacini was born on November 13, 1977 in Florence. He suffered from a serious illness which gradually deforms muscles and causes death. He was unable to walk since May 1986. In November 1990 he had a dream: "I saw a marble statue standing in front of the church (Note: He had not seen it before, not even its photograph or painting). Abruptly the statute seemingly turned live, pointed to me and said: "Come here, come here!" Then I woke up and decided to go to Medjugorie. On approaching the statue in front of the church, I felt that I should rise from the chair vozik. To the amazement of the others, I rose and started walking. I'm completely healthy from then on."
   Mrs. Diana Basileo was born in 1940 in Italy. She is ill since 1972. She has multiple sclerosis. She can only partly control her limbs. Her right eye is blind. She went to Medjugorie: "At the moment of the vision I could see, like in a film, several incidents in my life which I had previously forgotten. Next day I walked from the village of Ljubuški to Medjugorie. My husband, previously virtually an atheist, is now a believer."
   Mrs. Basileo can see now. The University of Milan issued a volume of 300 documents about her healing.
   The Italian television and other media informed in detail about the fate of Californian pop-singer Lola Falana whose sclerosis multiplex was cured as well as about Antonio Piraso from Sardinia who had had a tumor and had been paralysed, but healed up on seeing a stone brought to him by his religious father from the site of the visions in Medjugorie.
   Karlo Ivankovič from Ljubuški (born on August 1, 1940) contracted jaundice (hepatitis B). In a Mostar hospital he was unable to eat for 25 days. His liver stopped working completely. Eventually he could no longer perceive what was happening around him. On Friday, November 18, 1983, doctors stated: "He will live just one night."
   In the evening he heard a voice saying: "My child, what are you affraid of? What bothers you?"
   Suddenly he found himself in the Medjugorie church. An evening Holy Mass was just being celebrated by father Tomislav Pervan dressed in a green vestment. The voice told Karlo: "My child, don't be fearful, everything will be O.K."
  In the morning he told the doctors: "I feel great. I'm hungry, give me something to eat!"
   The physicians concluded that he was absolutely healthy, with no trace of jaundice found. He gave up his job of a taxi-driver and became a pilgrim guide in Medjugorie instead.
   Thirty-year-old Frenchman Martial de Montbron had a broken spine and consequently was paralysed. Friends carried him on a stretcher to the place of the first visions. Astonishingly, he sat up and rose to his feet.
   Frances Russell from Boston had an occupational injury. Her joints, muscles and nerves were injured. Having been operated on five times, she still could not move her neck, nor lift her arms to the head. For 16 years she could walk only on crutches. She spent most of her life in hospitals. Doctors told her there was nothing they could do for her. On April 11, 1996 she came to Medjugorie: "Father Zovko prayed. I saw all my life like in a film. In my heart I heard someone saying: Give me your injured heart!" On April 13, 1996 Frances was cured and walks without crutches ever since.
   Bus de Warnaffe of Belgium: "I was no longer able to walk normally. Sclerosis. I came to Medjugorie as a crutched invalid. There I could feel Our Lady's presence. In the overcrowded church I couldn't lean on my crutches. There simply wasn't enough room. I slowly left the church with the other visitors carrying the crutches in my hands. It took me some time to understand that I didn't need the crutches any more, particularly while walking downstairs. Now I organize trips of Belgian visitors to Medjugorie."
   Rita Klaus, a teacher in a Catholic school, suffered from multiple sclerosis for 26 years. She was confined to an invalid chair: "I'll never forget the day when I rose from my invalid chair cured (June 19, 1986). When I entered the classroom in the chair, a teacher was just explaining the pupils that all miracles attributed to Jesus are in fact entirely natural phenomena. My legs crooked by numerous operations straightnened. I even don't know how I came home. All but one physicians who treated me for 26 years consider my healing supernatural. My colleagues at school indicated clearly that if I told my pupils about my healing in Medjugorie I would be fired."
   Rita is now famous across the globe. She leads prayer sessions and gives testimony.
   16-year-old Florencia Majurel from Montpellier suffers from Down's Syndrome and can hardly speak. On August 15, 1994 she and her mother walk to the cross at the foot of Podbrdo. She raised her hands and moves her fingers, something she could not do before. She tells her mother that she saw Our Lady. Next day, she recites "Hail Mary" although before she was unable to pronounce the words of the prayer.
   Nancy Lauer from Massachusetts, USA:  "Then the pain alleviated and I felt very strongly the presence of the Mother of God. I could move my fingers and until the vision ended my pain stopped completely. I didn't believe it and kept my pair of crutches. I'll take my crutches home."
   On August 8, 1983 - instant healing of Maria Brumenc from Maribor, Slovenia. She had fallen and was left with a shattered vertebra Th-1. Since June 8, 1982 she wore a corset. She was healed during a pilgrimage on August 8, 1983. Her last photographs show no sign of the injury.
   Sister Elvira Petrozzi has founded a community to cure drug addicts in Medjugorie. The community's success rate is higher than that of any other institution of this kind across the world as 90 percent of young drug addicts treated here are cured.
   Over 400 cured addicts have been reported to the Medjugorie parish church in 1996 alone. Physicians from Croatia and elsewhere still study these cases. And how many others have remained unreported?
   Jelena conveyed us Gospa's prayer for an ill man: "Oh, My Lord, this ill man who is now standing in front of You has come to ask You for something he considers most important of all. What he wishes, is perceived by him as crucial. But You, my Lord, insert these words into my heart: "What matters most is a sane soul!" Lord, let Your divine will be fully realized in him! Let him be healthy if You wish so! Let him carry a cross, if it is Your will! I'm imploring you on behalf of us who pray for him.: Clean up our hearts so that we are worthy of spreadding further Your holy grace. Protect him and alleviate his pain! Let Your divine will and Your divine love be realized in him! Help him to bear his suffering patiently!" (Then she prays Glory to Father three times).

Further events

   On April 14, 1982, Mirjana saw a special vision. She knelt down in order to pray when Satan appeared before her. He offered her beauty and success, if she renouced God and His mother. She refused. Then he disappeared and Gospa came.
   Gospa showed the visionaries Eden, hell and the purgatory.
   Ivan saw Jesus' torturing to death in the vision.
   On September 9, 1997, Gospa with three angels appeared on the mountain.
   On August 2, 1981, Gospa through a visionary invited some 40 people to touch Her. One by one they approached Our Lady who showed them where they could touch Her. Many touches left dirty stains on Gospa's dress (for sins).
   Gospa always embraces the visionaries on birthday.
   Marija says about a vision on Christmas 1995 when Gospa appeared holding the little Jesus in her hands: "Little Jesus suddenly rose His hand and started playing with His Mother's veil. Then he slowly and shily revealed His eyes and then all His head from under the veil and looked at us. He smiled at us and then hid His head under the veil again."

   Vicka: "Gospa urges us and says that it is more important to attend the Moly Mass than to meet Her. Accepting Jesus is more than just feeling Her presence."
   Ivan and Mirjana said that Gospa often told them about the victory of the Immaculate Heart, but barred them from telling others.
   Early in January 1982 some pilgrims saw Gospa kneeling. When asked by the visionaries Gospa said about it: "Understandably, I pray beneath a cross. The cross is a sign of salvation. My Son suffered on the cross, he redeemed people on the cross, salvation cames from the cross."
   Message of July 18, 1985: "Today I urge you to bring more holy things to your homes and always have something holy with you. Bless all things to create a shield against Satan's seduction."
   Vicka once said that Gospa prayed a long time above them, but she did not understand Her words. She is confident that Gospa spoke in her mother tongue.
   In 1993 - 1995 Gospa began to dictate Ivanka, Marija and Vicka her biography. In December 1994 Vicka announced that the manuscript was already completed but could not be published pending Gospa's consent.
   Rock musician Michael O'Brien from Cleveland, Ohio, came to Medjugorie at the request of his mother. Michael: "We flocked around Vicka. She was busy autographing. She abruptly started to write something on a sheet of paper. Then she handed me that paper saying it was a message for me from Gospa. I asked our guide to translate: "With your skills and talent you can bring the youth to God."
   Over the past two years Michael has been singing religious songs spreading the message among the youth.
   Vicka: "Gospa said: Dear children, death is followed by eternity. Reincarnation does not exist.
   It is not correct saying people that they will be reborn several times and will successively have several bodies. Everyone is born only once."
   Gospa told Mirjana: "God does not accept divorce."
   The visionaries asked Gospa when her birthday was. She answered that she had been born on August 5 and she had her 2000th birthday in 1984.
   Mirjana: "I tried to paint a picture of Gospa many times, but I always failed. Her beauty is beyond our means of expression."
   Jelena Vasilij: "Gospa once showed me Africa. She showed me adobe houses. There I saw a mother with a child. The child cried. The woman solaced the child and went to a neighbour's house to get some food as her child was dying of hunger. However, the neighbors themselves had nothing to eat and the child starved to death.
   Gospa showed me Asia. One man killed another. It was terrible. People were scared. Than I was shown America. Two youngsters smoked drugs there. I got a headache on seeing as one of them stabbed his brother to his heart."

   Opinions on the visions

   The attitude of Croat priests is mostly cautious. Few domestic priests come to Medjugorie.
   The bishop of Mostar Pavao Žanič initially had a very favourable opinion. In August 1981 he said to the offical journal of the Bishop conference "Glas koncila".
   "Children do not tell lies"
   At a confirmation in Medjugorie on July 25, 1981, he said: "It is my strong belief that these young people do not lie. Those who described the affair (negatively) lacked theological knowledge. They wrongly said that after Jesus Christ no miracles can be made."
   Bishop Žanič's opinion later turned negative. To investigate the Medjugorie events he appointed a 4-member panel which he later expanded to 14 members. Proceedings of a bishop conference dated April 10, 1991 read: "Investigations carried out so far have failed to confirm supernatural events and visions in Medjugorie."
   "The last session of this panel was held in the bishop office in Mostar on May 2, 1986. Minutes of this session have never been made public.

War

   The Medjugorie idyll was then smashed by people manipulated by the devil. A war broke out in Yugoslavia. As many as half a million refugees had fled it by December 1991. Houses were destroyed, more than 270 churches were knocked down. Thousands of victims included also women and children.
   On April 10, 1992, the editors of the daily Slovenský denník in Slovakia received this facsimile: "A 250-kg bomb was dropped on Medjugorie today. It did not explode."
   On May 15, 1992, six bombs fell within less than 300 m from the church. The church remained undamaged and no one was killed.
   The Serb siege of Medjugorie ended when the Serb soldiers in the surrounding woods fell ill of typhoid and had to apply for help to their Croat enemies.
   On December 10, 1991 Gospa asked Marija to pass this message: "I could easily put an end to this war, if there were more people here who pray and fast."
   Gospa often repeated in Medjugorie: Pray for peace! In the past the Yugoslav people were unconvinced and asked: "Why should we pray for peace? We have peace here and what happens elsewhere does not apply directly to us." The year 1991 violently shattered this doubtful certainty. It is a lesson for us too, isn't it?
   Vicka: "Many locals pray on Podbrdo these days. Now they have time and motif to pray, but in the past they ignored Gospa's thousands of pleas to pray. Now everyone is worried and keeps asking whether Gospa has foretold the end of the war. This time the peace will cost many more prayers and casualties."
   Don Cipriano Rossi of UNESCO says of what he witnessed in Mostar in September 1992: "A military unit burnt down ten churches and razed to the ground twelve Catholic graveyards."
   A Franciscan monastery in Mostar was attacked more than 20 times and set on fire ten times.
   By December 1992, two million people had fled their houses in Bosnia-Herzegovina. 120,000 were killed and 150,000 others seriously wounded. All bishops in Bosnia-Herzegovina lost a substantial part of their dioceses. The cathedral temple of the Mostar bishop was reduced to rubble. The bishop of Mostar, Mr. Žanič, was admitted to the psychiatrical clinic in Split.
   Medjugorie came under attack three times, but only a few houses were damaged and no one was killed. In April 1993 the Medjugorie diocese harboured 1,100 refugees.
   American pilot Scott O'Grady flying an F-16 was shot down over Bosnia during the war. He was hiding unassisted for six days. After his rescue, he said that he had visions related to Our Lady of Medjugorie. He said:  "I owe my rescue to Our Lady of Medjugorie... During the six days when I was hiding in Bosnia I had a number miraculous visions ... I could see something like a light and a pleasant voice encouraged me."
   The war in Yugoslavia was not part of the ten secrets.
   Father Petar Ljubičič: "I knew about this war ten years before. Mirjana told me: The Mother of God has told me that Croatia and Slovenia (and Bosnia-Herzegovina too) will be free, but a war will break out later."
   Neither the new bishop of Mostar Mr. Perič favors the Medjugorie visions (father Zovko, the former priest in Medjugorie, said this during his trip to Slovakia in spring of 1995).

   Ivanka Ivankovič-Elez. She saw visions every day between June 24, 1981 and May 7, 1985 when Gospa revealed her the last of the ten secrets and told her that for the rest of her life she would have visions once a year always on June 25, the anniversary of the first Medjugorie visions. Gospa told her many things about the future of the world and the church. But she cannot tell anybody until Gospa allows her to do so. On May 7, 1985, Gospa granted her the grace to see her deceased mother once again. Ivanka lives in the Mudjugorie diocese. She is married and has three children.
   Vicka Ivankovič. She first saw Gospa on June 24, 1981 and continues to have further visions every day. Gospa disclosed her nine secrets. Vicka wrote a biography of the Virgin Mary. Gospa identified the priest to whom Vicka should give the biography. Vicka and the priest himself are the only ones to know who it is. Vicka was once ill and suffered from pain. She was told that her pain would end on September 25, 1988 and it really ended. Gospa had been telling Vicka about the future of the world for a year. Vicka took notes which filled two notebooks. She lives in the Medjugorie diocese.
   Marija Pavlovič - Lunetti. She first saw Gospa on June 25, 1981 and has been having visions daily ever since. Marija passes Gospa's monthly messages to the diocese and the world, always on the 25th day of the month. Gospa revealed her nine secrets. Marija donated one of her kidneys to be transplanted to her seriously ill brother. Her brother feels well since the operation, but her health became frail. The day before the operation Gospa told Marija that she would be with her during the operation and she fulfilled her promise. Marija is married, has two sons and lives in Italy.
   Ivan Dragičevič. He has been having visions of Gospa every day since June 24, 1981. Gospa disclosed nine secrets to him. Ivan lives in the Medjugorie diocese. He is married and has one daughter. He is the only one whom Gospa revealed his own future.
   Jakov Čolo. He saw visions every day between June 25, 1981 and September 12, 1998. Gospa disclosed him ten secrets. Jakov's parents died when he was a little boy. Gospa gave him messages about the future of the world. He will have regular visions of Gospa every Christmas. He lives in the Medjugorie diocese. Jakov is married and has one child.
   Mirjana Dragičevič - Sold. She had daily visions between June 24, 1981 and December 25, 1982. During the last vision Gospa told her the last secret and added that for the rest of her life she would have visions only once a year, always on March 18, her birthday. Since August 2, 1987, she has been hearing Gospa's voice on the 2nd day of each month. She sometimes also sees Gospa and prays with her for the unbelievers. Gospa disclosed her a total of nine secrets (Her secrets will be publicized by father Ljubičič). She lives in the Medjugorie diocese, is married and has two children.
   Jelena Vasilij. She has been seeing Gospa with her inner sight. She studies theology in America and Austria.
   Marijana Vasilij. Like Jelena, she has been having visions of Gospa since 1982. She graduated from a medical school.
   The visionaries have never doubted the authenticity of their visions. They had a total of 26,155 visions over 16 and a half year.

The fruits of Medjugorie

   What fruits has Medjugorie born? The Medjugorie diocese has harboured 1,100 war refugees. A number of communions have sprung up here - praying, monks, as well as for treatment of drug-addicts and alcoholics. Many confessions and conversions have taken place here.
   Medjugorie has become a major hub of the resumption of the Christian way of life which spontanneously spreads from here and attracts people from across the globe. This spiritual activity is unmatched in the modern era. Over 15 years, 22 million pilgrims came here to pray, fast, celebrate the Holy Eucharist, and to adore before Christ. 150,000 pilgrims attended the tenth anniversary feast of the visions in Medjugorie. An estimated 1,000 bishops and cardinals as well as 100,000 priests visit Medjugorie annually.
   On the fifteenth anniversary of the visions, the Holy Eucharist was celebrated by 211 priests. In August 1997, the Holy Eucharists were concelebrated by 3,684 Croat and foreign priests.
   Over one million people confessed in Medjugorie, including many who had not made confession for 10, 20 or 40 years.
   Bishop Harris from Liverpool: "Confession, the main experience from Medjugorie: restoration and conversion ... On the feast of the Raising of the Holy Cross I witnessed as over 50 Franciscan friars heard confessions. The internal need to confess is urgently felt in Medjugorie. People are really willing to tell their sins and repent."
   Father Dietrich von Stockhausen from Germany:  "Over one and a half year I spent here more time in the confessional than during the preceding 22 years of my priesthood."
   Vicka: "Gospa advises us to regularly make holy confessions, at least once a month."

Indulgences

   Having been freed from some punishment by the confessor, temporary sentences remain to be served on earth or in the purgatory. Temporary sentences can be pardoned, if one is granted an indulgence by the Church.
   To get a complete indulgence through which the Church frees the sinner of all his outstanding temporary sentences, one has to:
   1. Perform a deed for which the Church grants complete indulgences.
   2. Confess (The confession can be made some days before a deed for which complete indulgences are granted. One confession suffices for several complete indulgences, if one does not sin again in the meantime).
   3. Attend the Holy Eucharist (ideally on the same day when one performs a deed for which complete indulgences are given).
   4. Pray something approved by the Holy Father (one Paternoster and Hail Mary suffice) ideally on the same day when one performs a deed which qualifies him for a complete indulgence.
   5. Complete indulgences can be granted exclusively to those who regret all their (including routine) sins and are determined not to sin any more.
   All five conditions must be met to qualify for complete indulgences.

Examples of how a complete indulgence is gained

   Complete indulgences can be granted to those who:
   a) bow to the Holy Sacrament for at least half an hour.
   b) read the Holy Scripture showing dignity to God's words and spiritual reading for at least half an hour.
   c) pray in a calvary before properly established stations.
   d) pray at least fifty uninterrupted rosaries in a church, public chapel or family.

   Albert Salazar from the USA was the world marathon-race record-holder between 1981 and 1985: "My father sent me books on Medjugorie. I took a book describing Mary's messages and read some of them. Suddenly I felt in my heart - she's telling that to me. She is my Mother, I must obey Her. All of a sudden I believed it."
   John McDougall, professor of philosophy, psychology and music from Scotland, a member of the Episcopal Christian Church: "I myself can't understand my arrival in Medjugorie. I came there in 1985 and stayed for two days. We prayed in front of the house of the visionary Marija. She said something.
   I did not understand her a single word, but still I was moved. There was something more persuasive than the words that I couldn't understand. When I returned home, the bishop of Dundee prepared me for a Roman Catholic baptism."
   Anna Blaževič, daughter of a high-ranking communist official: "In 1988 I led a group of tourists to Medjugorie. At that time I knew nothing about the Holy Eucharist and Holy Communion. When I entered the church, a Holy Eucharist was just being celebrated. During the Communion I could clearly see a bright light coming out of the altar and illuminating all those present. At that moment I knew that God was alive. I did not know how to pray, yet I felt that prayer is the essence of my being. I was baptized on July 3, 1988. Vicka was my godmother. Later, my brother was baptized and had a church wedding, too. Forgive us - you who suffered for Christ under the oppression of atheists, us, blind infidels."
   Don Petar Džugandžič celebrated his primary Holy Eucharist in Medjugorie on June 18, 1995: "I'm from New York. I worked with computers as a psychologist. I earned much money. In 1986 I arrived in Medjugorie to see my relatives. Here, something that I didn't understand happened in my soul. I began to pray, something I had never done before. Little by little I realized my desire for priesthood."
   Wayn Weibel, a Protestant and professional journalist, lived far away from his own church. He even refused to take part in the baptism of his fifth child. One day he met a man who told him: "You could write a report on Medjugorie."
   He had never heard about Medjugorie before. He borrowed and saw a videorecord about it. It was in February 1986. Wayn: "Abruptly I felt something strange. Someone addressed me: "You are my son and I appeal to you to fulfil the will of my Son. Please, write about the events in Medjugorie." I fell to my knees and started praying. I don't know how long I knelt there repeating: "God, God, why me?" As a Protestant I knew nothing about visions, nor about the Catholic Church. Later I wrote articles on Medjugorie of which 27 million copies were issued."
   Wayn led also his wife and children to religious life.
   Dr. Ernst Strachwitz, who was ordained priest in the Viennese Dome on June 25, 1994, recalls: "I opted for theatre. I confessed once a year and attended the Sunday Holy Mass now and then. I was invited to Medjugorie. I wanted to have nothing to with it, yet I accepted the invitation. There amidst a prayer in the church, I suddenly realized that I wanted to be a priest. From then on I have been firmly determined to follow that profession."
   Georg Mayr Melnhof, born to a renowned Austrian aristocratic family, decided to enter a priest seminary, although he should inherit one billion shillings worth of property: "I studied corporate economics. I took over the family firm. As a guide of a youth group I visited Medjugorie. There I read I the Bible: "None of you can become my disciple unless he renounces all his property." Then I attended a German-language mass during which a voice instructed me to embrace this appeal and I renounced everything."
   Brother Efraim, a former Protestant pastor: "At night before the feast of the Mother of Relentless Help I had a vision. I saw Our Lady and She invited me to travel to Medjugorie. She told me the date. Then on November 7, 1993 I left for Medjugorie. Our Lady asked me to found a congregation of people who are in communion with Jesus's Heart and wish to live up strictly to Medjugorie messages."

Attitude to Medjugorie

   Mother Teresa of Calcutta: "I will gladly go to Medjugorie to thank for garnted grace."
   During his two-month trip to America, visionary Ivan met the then US president Bush.
   Televised celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Medjugorie visions was watched by over half a billion people across the globe. The Croatian president Franjo Tudjman and the Spanish king Juan Carlos were also present. Tenor José Carreras and soprano Cecilia Gasdia performed there.
   Otto von Habsburg: "I'm convinced that these visions are authentic."
   Milona von Habsburg: She visited Medjugorie for the first time as a pilgrim and stayed there for three days. Her life changed here and she eventually stayed here for ten years. She worked here as a tourist guide taking advantage of her extensive command of laguages.
   More than 60 conferences on Medjugorie are held every year in America.
   Father Slavko Barbarič: "Visions of Our Lady happen every day here in Medjugorie. Everyone who lives in Medjugorie has seen at least one miracle for himself."
   Father Tomislav Vlašič was a spiritual in Medjugorie between 1981 and 1985. He is endowed with the ability to hear Our Lady's and Jesus' voices: "Our Lady whose visions we have is a garce for us so that we can accept the Lord's way simply."
   Umberto Lončar, a priest in Gradniči, near Medjugorie: "On Tuesday, August 4 at 18,40 o'clock a wonderful pink-violet figure of the Lady rose from Crnica. She rose higher and higher and eventually we lost sight of Her. Then I noticed a white veil that remained below Her feet."
   Father Gianni Sareva, a co-founder of the Oasis of Peace Congregation: "During a thanks-giving prayer in the chapel in which people used to have visions those days I clearly heard the words: "Entrust yourself completely to me!"
   In October 1981, Franciscan fathers Janko Bubalo, Stanko Vasiľ and Luka Susac saw a shining figure of Our Lady on Križevac. On November 22 and 23, 1981 the figure was seen by 70 people including father Bubalo. The same event was witnessed by father Bubalo and other 50 people on April 28, 1983.
   On Thursday, August 6, 1981, the letters MIR were seen in the sky. The inscription was visible for 15 - 20 minutes. Father Jozo Zovko, the then Medjugorie priest: "I saw for myself the light radiating from the cross on Križevac and streamimg towards the church. Then the light in the sky created the word MIR. These letters moved towards us like the headlights of a vehicle."
   Father Zovko in Slovakia: "When the first visions appeared I asked people not to go to Podbrdo. Whenever the time of the vision approached, all people left the church. I remained alone in the church. I sat in the third bench not knowing what to do. Then I heard a voice as clearly as you can hear my voice now: "Go out and protect the children!" Next day the church was full. Our Lady appeared in the church during a prayer. First by the door to the church. I interrupted the prayer and we greeted Her by a wonderful song. Our Lady went before the altar, blessed all of us and said: "Thank you for praying together. Pray together every day ... "

Holy Father John Paul II and Medjugorie

   In November 1981 visionaries had vision of the Pope's likeness. Gospa took it and snuggled it up: "Preserve this likeness, it is your father, the spiritual father of all." Gospa added that she had saved him during the attempted assassination on May 13, 1981 in which he could have died.
   On March 22, 1995, Vicka accompanied 350 wounded and war invalids to Rome where the Pope granted them a private audience. Vicka interpreted and the Pope recognized her immediately: "Aren't you Vicka from Medjugorie?"
   Hearing the question Vicka presented the Holy Father with a rosary saying: "... It was blessed by Gospa during one vision."
   The Pope replied: "Pray to Our Lady for me and I will pray for you."
   He took her head in his hands and blessed her for a long time.
   Gospa described the Pontiff to the visionaries as follows: "The most beloved of my sons who has been chosen by myself for these days."
   In June 1987 John Paul II declared a Marian year. Cardinal Gray later announced that the Holy Father had been inspired to declare it by Medjugorie (Italiani in Scozia, Oct-Nov 1987).
   Visionary Marija: "Gospa always gives messages on the 25th day of the month and the Holy Father often says the same on the next day. He is either intensively guided by the Holy Spirit or has visions too."
   Mirjana said several times that she had privately talked to the Pope. He knows about those ten secrets. Then the Pope said: "If I were not the Pontiff, I would go to Medjugorie."
   On a March meeting of bishops with the Pope in 1995, the then bishop of Mostar, Mr. Žanič, asked the Pontiff: "Holy Father, when will you call in Sarajevo?"
   John Paul II answered: "I expected you to ask me: "Holy Father, when will you call in Medjugorie?"
   Archbishop Benitz of Paraguay was not sure what to do when father Barbarič from Medjugorie was to visit Paraguay. Therefore in October 1994 he asked the Holy Father. The Pontiff advised him: "Permit everything related to Medjugorie."
   Italian bishops' conference in Venice in 1988: When asked by bishops whether they could send believers to Medjugorie, the Holy Father replied: "If I were you, I would have been there long ago."
   Having returned from Medjugorie, the archbishop of Chiavar Msgr. Cavallero told the Pontiff about his trip. The Pope asked him: "Medjugorie, do you believe it?"
   The bishop answered: "Yes, I do. And you, Holy Father, do you believe it?"
   The Pontiff responded: "Ci credo, ci credo, ci credo!" (I believe it ...)
   Cardinal Tomášek who was deeply convinced that the Medjugorie visions were authentic once told people praying in a Viennese church that he for himself had heard the John Paul II say that if he had not been the Pope he would have gone to Medjugorie to work for the pilgrims there.
   On April 6, 1995, Coatia's president Tudjman and cardinal Kuharič called on the Holy Father. Then the Pontiff said: "I want to visit Split, Mária-Bistrica and Medjugorie!"
   "Protect Medjugorie," the Pontiff recommended father Zovko.
   At a meeting of Korean bishops with the Pope, Msgr. Kim told the Holy Father: "Thanks to you Poland has been liberated from communism."
   The Pope disagreed: "I is not my merit. It was done by the Mother of God as she assures us in Fatima and Medjugorie." Bishop P. Hnilica: "The Holy Father reading me excerpts from a book on Medjugorie once told me: "Medjugorie is an extension of Fatima for the conversion of Russia! Our Lady seeks soldiers, missionaries for Russia there !
   (The Roman Catholics are criticized for their Virgin Mary cult. The word "cult" is derived from the Latin word "colere" meaning "to honor". But the Catholic Church does not venerate Our Lady with divine honor. The Catholics know who God is and know a hierarchy of values. While praying rosary before a statue of Our Lady, a Catholic knows that She is not God. He also knows that if Our Lady wants to appear somewhere, She must ask God for permission. Hence we pray rosary: "Beg for us"
   The Pope presented Apostolic Nuncio of Dublin Msgr. Gaetano Allibrandi with six rosaries, blessed them and asked the Nuncio to pass them to six of the Medjugorie visionaries.
   Italian priest Gianni Sgreva talked to John Paul II about prayer congregations in Medjugorie: "The Holy Father listened to me, then approached me and whispered to my ear: Don't care about Medjugorie because I think of Medjugorie and pray for its success every day."

The voice of the Mother of God

   The archbishop of Split and Makarska Dr. Frane Franič, chairman of the theological panel of the Bishop conference is known in the Catholic Church as a good and wise bishop who knew best how to resist Marxist atheism. He said: "I witnessed two visions and therefore am sure that it was no fraud nor phantom, but a true religious experience. I believe the visions are authentic. Thank God I could have experienced the development of mystical theology and mystical visions, notably those in Medjugorie. I recognize the authenticity of Our Lady's messages from Medjugorie." (in December 1996 in Split cathedral). In 1982 I visited Medjugorie again. As I prayed one evening, I felt as if a voice asked me: "How much time do you devote to prayers?" I replied that since my noviciate I prayed for three hours a day. The voice said: "It suffices for an ordinary priest, but you are a bishop and so you should pray more. Add one more hour." I replied: "I'll do so." Since then I prayed four hours a day. It was my private vision. When I retired in 1988, I visited Medjugorie one more time. Then the same voice told me: "Now that you have more time you can pray five hours daily." I answered again: "I will do so."
   "I had my own personal experience that I consider a miracle. It convinced me that Our Lady's messages from Medjugorie are authentic ... I don't speak about the first experience in detail since it involves also other people." (from an interview for Glas Mira, November 1993)
   "Visions of Our Lady happen here, I'm sure about it." (from an interview later published in a book by R. Laurentin)
   On the occasion of presenting a new photomonography on Medjugorie, archbishop Franič said in Split: "I heard the voice of the Mother of God for myself, but I've never seen Her." (Medjugorie - Offiziel, July 1997).