Medjugorje Report May 25, 2024
Medjugorje changes things… and it changes us, if we will only let it.
One of the first things I heard regarding Medjugorje, when I visited there for the very first time more than 20 years ago, was that ‘Mary is a real person, and she is personally present.’ I have found that to be remarkably true.
There is something qualitatively different about this place than any other place on earth that I have been. I believe it is because Mary has set her foot down on the hillside, and it has become the closest place to heaven on this earth that anyone will ever have occasion to be.
Since the Apparitions of Mary to six, at the time, young people/children, began in 1981, more than 40 million people, from all faith, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, have visited this remote village to be strengthened and renewed in their spiritual journey. Many who have come as unbelievers have left as believers, countless others have received physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual healings. The fruits speak for themselves.
Mary has said that the She is spending these years among us here as a, ‘…special time of grace granted by God.’ She says, “I have come to tell the world that God exists. He is the fullness of life, and to enjoy this fullness and peace, you must return to God.”
An example of the messages being delivered by Mary are these most recent ones, received on April 25, 2024:
Dear children! I am with you to tell you that I love you and to encourage you to prayer; because Satan is strong and every day his strength is stronger through those who have chosen death and hatred. You, little children, be prayer and my extended hands of love for all those who are in darkness and seek the light of God. Thank you for having responded to my call.
And this one from May 25, 2024:
Dear children! In this time of grace, I am calling you to prayer with the heart. Little children, create prayer groups where you will encourage each other to the good and grow in joy. Little children, you are still far away. That is why continue to convert anew and choose the way of holiness and hope so that God may give you peace in abundance. Thak you for having responded to my call.
My present 2024 pilgrimage to this holy site was made more special by staying in the pension of Ivanka Ivankovic-Elez, one of the visionaries.
The first to catch a glimpse of Mary on the rocky hillside of Podbrdo on June 24, 1981, Ivanka was a 15 yr. old girl who had recently lost her mother. The Feast Day of St. John the Baptist was a holy day…and, thus, a holiday…for the people of the area, including the mission hamlet of Bijakovici, which neighbors Medjugorje, and was the birthplace of five of the visionaries. The church of St. James the Apostle, a Franciscan mission, is the home parish of the visionaries.
Telling the friend who was with her, as the two strolled towards home that evening, that she had seen “Gospa”, i.e. Our Lady, the friend retorted she was crazy.
To meet her, Ivanka, is an unremarkably, ordinary, middle-aged woman with nothing that sets her apart from others her age and background. Her face neither shines, nor does she levitate…or carry herself with any sense of superiority or marked blessedness. She is a humble, down to earth, wife and mother, who is presently is looking forward to the marriage of her youngest son, Ivan, in June. Ivanka cooks for the pilgrims who stay at the Elez Pension, and son, Ivan, acts as server and driver for the pilgrims. She gives warm, welcoming hugs and smiling blessings.
Speaking to the dozen pilgrims during our stay, she began by saying she wasn’t above asking the Madonna, “Why did you choose me?” Sometimes, it is out of curiosity, wanting to know what it is for, other days, it is with an anger that while it is a great gift, it is also a great responsibility. It has marked her life since her teen years in ways that she did not imagine would happen to her when she was a child.
“I am a human being like you. I get knocked down, but I get up again. I find the strength to follow the path that God has given to me. As we all must.”
Many say to her that she is blessed to see Our Mother Mary, but, on the other hand, while she realizes the great gift God has given her, she says, with the blessings come many temptations, crosses, and problems.
The gift of having seen the Mother of God, is to gaze upon an indefinable beauty, not just to see her with the eyes, but to see her with the heart, as all of us must strive to do.
“I am not chosen by God because I am better than anyone else, it depends on making ourselves open to God for each one of us to see him.”
It is not that God is far from us, she says, but, rather, that we are far from God.
When she first saw Gospa, Our Lady, who later identified herself as the Queen of Peace, Ivanka was 15 yrs. old, living in Mostar. She was in Bijakovici visiting her grandparents for the school holidays and helping them working in the fields, the lot of most of her friends, and the children and young people of the community.
Because it was the Feast Day of St. John the Baptist, no one was working, and the young people were free to take a walk outside the village into the countryside. She and Mirjana, also visiting, but from Sarajevo, had walked away from the village and were awaiting others to join them, but they didn’t come. Becoming bored with the wait, the two of them began to return down the path to the village.
“I don’t know what caused me to turn my head, but when I did, I said to Mirjana, ‘Look. It’s Gospa.’ Without looking herself, Mirjana said to me I was crazy. And we kept walking.”
Coming upon Mirjana’s sister, she took one look at Ivanka and asked what had happened to her because she was white. At the same time, the others who they had awaited came up. They looked and also saw a beautiful young woman, dressed in grey, holding a baby in her arms and motioning for them to draw nearer. Frightened by what they were seeing, none of them dared respond.
They dispersed to their homes and families, and, in tears, some of them began to tell parents and family what they had seen. The overriding sentiment from the adults was to forget about it because no one really saw things like that.
Ivanka says it was the longest night of her life. Sleep did not come, and she lay awake wondering, indeed, if she was losing her mind. Everyone was saying that it simply was not possible. (At this point, no one in the village had ever heard of Marian Apparitions. The remoteness of the village, and still being under Communist domination as part of what was then Yugoslavia, information about places like Lourdes and Fatima had not reached them.)
Such news in the closeknit community meant that the next evening when they ventured back to the hillside where they had first seen the Lady in Grey, many villagers gathered at the base of the hill to witness what was happening. Ivanka’s grandmother had told her that whatever it was she saw up there, it wouldn’t be there again.
But the original four who had seen her, and two others who had not been there the evening before, saw a light that seemed to pull them up the hillside. Despite the thornbushes, stones and rocks, and with no path, they all ran up to the spot where they saw the same young woman again. No one could stop them from running up the hillside, nor could anyone keep up with them.
Ivanka pauses in her recitation of the facts of what happened, then says, “How can you describe with our poor words, the love of God? How can you describe the peace of God, the blessings and happiness? There are no words to describe it.”
There was the same young woman again. She was wearing a long, grey dress, with a white veil. She had blues eyes, dark hair, and stood on a small cloud. Never had any of them seen anyone so beautiful. The Lady spoke and said to not be afraid. And that she would be with them.
It was a tradition in the village and area to say seven Our Father’s, Hail Mary’s and Glory Be’s and sprinkle the house with blessed water every Saturday evening. One of the girls had been advised to take Holy Water and sprinkle it towards whatever they saw saying, “If you come from God, stay. If you do not, go away.” Ivanka says when the other girl did that, the Lady smiled and stayed.
The first message that the visionaries were given were the words, “Mir. Mir. Mir” “Peace. Peace. Peace.” Later the Lady would identify herself as Queen of Peace.
Ivanka saw Our Lady daily from then until May, 1985. Early on, still mourning the death of her own mother, she had asked Gospa where her mother was, and was assured that she was with Mary. The greatest gift came with her last Daily Apparition of Mary on May 7, 1985.
“I saw my mother and she hugged me and said to me, ‘I am very proud of you, my daughter.’ This was an enormous gift – a gift for me, and a gift for you. If you ask if there is life after this one, I can assure you that there is. She was real and I felt her hug like a real person.”
She goes on to say, “God gives us hugs. He asks us not to wander, but to come back to Him through conversion, prayer, fasting, confession, and Holy Mass.”
God is asking us to change our lives, and the first step in that is to be at peace with ourselves. He invites us to make use of Confession, to throw out of our hearts what is impure, to open our hearts to be cleansed and healed. He invites us to go to where Jesus awaits us, both in Adoration, and Holy Mass. He will give us new life, heal our lives, but we must choose which way we will go.
Ivanka’s special mission is to pray for families and she says that each one of us has a special mission from God.
“I have a family, like you. I experience the same problems that you do. We must put God first in our life, then it is easy to carry the problems. Bless your families. Start each day in prayer. Say, ‘O God, stay with me and my family.’ At the end of the day, say, ‘Thank you, God.’ It is one single drop in the ocean of prayer, but it means the world for you.”
She concludes, that if we have everything without God’s peace and love, we have nothing.
“What Our Lady said to us, I am telling you. Do not be afraid. Our Lady is leading us to Jesus. I pray for you. You pray for me.”
With six seminarians in our midst, she encouraged the pilgrims to pray for seminarians because the world needs holy priests, going on to say that there is a battle between good and evil going on more strongly than ever. With prayer and blessing, we can be instruments to stop the evil. The greatest weapon is the Rosary.
“If you are feeling lonely, and abandoned, pray the rosary. If you want to walk through life with smiles, have Our Lady next to you, she will take us to her Son, Jesus.”
“If we make one small step, it will lead us to having heaven on earth. The hardest thing becomes the easiest if we have an open heart…to Our Lady and Her Son, Jesus.”
In the end, it seems that the real message of Medjugorje…and Our Lady’s lingering presence there, is…for us all to live with an open heart, a heart that is open to God, open to respond to the call to convert, pray, fast, read scripture, go to confession, and attend Mass. All must be from the heart, a heart that is ready to believe who God is and to receive what He has for us.
This openness of heart must be the enduring source of our life, alone. Nothing else will suffice to prepare the purity of heart needed for us to be in communion with God. From a heart turned to God will come the peace, healing and new life we seek and long for, a heart that pleases Him and gives us access to Him and the eternity He holds in store for us.
Ending Our Life Well 