In October 2019, I took my eldest daughter, Clare, to Medjugorje and Assisi. She was 16 at the time. The trip was a consolation after her plans to go to World Youth Day were unfortunately cancelled.
I had a deeper, more personal reason for taking her. In 2002, after having trouble falling pregnant and then losing our first child in a mid-term pregnancy loss, David and I went back to Medjugorje for a second time together. Turning to our faith in a place that fills you with hope, we offered our prayers there before going to Assisi, Italy, and praying through the intercession of St Francis and St Clare for another child. I fell pregnant soon after that trip. According to the doctors, I was most likely to go into premature labour from as early as 22 weeks and was hospitalised and put on strict bed rest for the next 2-3 months. However, Clare was born happy and healthy at exactly 40 weeks. We named her after Saint Clare of Assisi.
Fast forward to October 2019. Clare and I stayed at Visionary Mirjana Soldo's guest house in Medjugorje. It was hard to believe that she, who allegedly receives visits from heaven by the Queen of Peace, could serve us soup and take away our dirty dinner plates. Her humility was pronounced. She gave all glory to God and asked not to be thanked but that she should thank us. Her husband, Marko, and two beautiful daughters also served and hosted us like we were family.
(Clare's favourite spot in Medjugorje, atop Apparition Hill)
On the 2nd of October, the day Mirjana was to receive an apparition from Mother Mary, many thousands of pilgrims hiked up to the Blue Cross to join her. This spot, at the base of Apparition Hill, is where the six children first saw Her all those years ago in 1981. We got up early to get a good spot. It was crowded but cosy, and we found a rock to sit on a little way up the mountain. A French man playing his mandolin was singing, and Italians were praying the Rosary around us.
(Me waiting for Mirjana to come through crowds for the Apparition of our Blessed Mother on 2nd October 2019)
...Then the loudspeaker invited the rosary, and we all prayed in our respective languages from all over the world. The energy of our prayers, as the time of the apparition got closer, felt as though the mountain was about to lift up. A sense of holiness ensued, but then, blood-curdling screams could be heard from a demoniac in the crowd. At that moment, I realised that Heaven had descended; anything unholy was compelled to scour away like a cockroach when you turn the light on.
At the end of the Apparition Miki Musa, Mirjana’s interpreter, translated the message Mirjana received from the Queen of Peace into English and read it aloud to us. It was also read in other languages, preceded with a caveat that a proper translation would ensue and be formalised. Here is the message received on that day:
"Dear children, the will and the love of the Heavenly Father make it so that I am among you, that I, with a motherly love, may help the growth of faith in your heart, for you to be able to truly comprehend the purpose of earthly life and the greatness of the heavenly one.
My children, the earthly life is the way to eternity, to truth, and to life-to my Son. I desire to lead you on that way. You, my children-you who always thirst for more love, truth, and faith-need to know that there is only one spring from which you can drink. It is trust in the Heavenly Father; it is trust in His love. Abandon yourselves completely to His will and do not be afraid. Everything that is best for you, everything that leads you to eternal life, will be given to you. You will comprehend that the purpose of life is not always to want and take, but to love and give. You will have true peace and true love. You will be apostles of love.
By your example, you will make it so that my children who do not know my Son and His love may desire to come to know Him. My children, apostles of my love, adore my Son with me and love Him above all. Always strive to live in His truth. Thank you." Medjugorje Message, October 2nd, 2019
The photo above is the moment when Our Lady appears to Mirjana. Only moments before, she is clearly suffering from pain (back injury), her face contorted. The difference when the Apparition begins is astounding. Her face relaxes and breaks into a beautiful grin as she gazes at a woman who we can't see, but who Mirjana describes has a beauty so magnificent that it cannot be described. She also explains that all pain disappears during the ecstasy. As soon as Our Lady leaves her, Mirjana looks like she is struck with a cruel whip of earthly reality. Everything returns to her including the pain of her physical ailments and the sensory overload of people trying to touch her. She puts on a brave face, makes her way back through the crowds, stops to pray with the sick and returns to her bedroom to pray and cry. Slowly through prayer, she’s given the strength to accept that here on Earth she must be, like everyone else.
You can find out more about our next pilgrimage to Medjugorje, where we stay with Mirjana Soldo, and have the opportunity to get up close and personal with her, here.
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