Our Lady of Medjugorje
The Story of Medjugorje
Medjugorje is located in the former Yugoslavia. It is a small mountain village in the region of Bosnia, Herzegovina, the former Yugoslavia. This true story takes place in the Bijakovici section of Medjugorje. Since the first apparition of the Gospa(Our Lady) to six children on June 24, 1981 on the hill of Podbrdo of Mount Crnica (now called Apparition Hill), the entire region has been caught in the controversy of the apparitions and the messages of Gospa.
On the afternoon of June 24, 1981, two girls, Ivanka Ivankovic age 15, and Mirjana Dragicevic age 16, were returning home from a walk. Looking toward the hill called Crnica, Ivanka saw a bright silhouette of a woman. She said to Mirjana, "It is the Gospa!" (Our Lady)
On June 25, the two girls returned to the hill with four others. Their names are, Vicka Ivankovic age 16, Ivan Dragivevic age 16, Maria Pavlovic age 16 and Jakov Colo age 10. A figure in white was calling them to come up the hill. The children were somehow transported in some mysterious way to a beautiful Lady who calls herself, the Queen of Peace.The Lady gives messages to the seers for the whole world. To date The Queen of Peace has left thousands of messages. At first the messages were almost daily. Now for the past several years they come on the 25th of each month. Though there are thousands of messages, there are 6 primary ones. The basic messages consist of, conversion, prayer, fasting, faith, peace and reconciliation. The six seers are also receiving ten secrets each. The secrets are of future chastisements because of sin. The visionaries say the 10 secrets will remain secrets until an appointed time. Only the visionaries know the day and time the messages will be revealed. The secrets will be released to the world one at a time through a priest, (now chosen). Prior to each chastisement, the priest will receive a parchment. He will not be able to read the parchment except with much prayer, fasting, and help from the Lady. The messages about chastisements will be announced to the world three days before the event is to take place.
Ivanka, Mirjana and Jokov have received all ten secrets, they no longer see the Lady except on special occasions. The remaining 3 visionaries have each received 9 of the 10 secrets, and they still see the Lady almost every day up till now.
In an interview with Vicka on September 8, 1988, she described the first apparitions of the Lady. Here is the interview.
The first day, Ivanka and Mirjana went for a walk because we sometimes went for walks on that road. In the afternoon when I got up and went and I followed them. As I approached them Milka, sister of Mirjana, called to hurry. I thought that they were looking at something on the road,may be a snake. From a distance it seemed to me that they were looking on the road, not at the hill, but when I came close they were saying, "Ma, Vicka, Gospa." Which means: "look, Vicka, there is Our Lady." "What do you mean Our Lady?" was my reaction. I turned quickly, threw away my shoes and ran back home straight away. I mean I ran away.
At that moment Ivan came along. I said, "Ivan, they are claiming that they see Our Lady. We do not have to see but at least let us go closer." Ivan, who was carrying some apples said, "Lets go." He was full of courage by saying that we would go, but as we drew nearer to them I turned around, and Ivan had run away. He was not there and I was alone.
At that moment I was alone and I could not go back or forward. Something stronger kept me there and then, my God, they were calling me, "Come Vicka, come." They asked me to come closer. I was afraid. I must not even look at them especially not at the hill where Our Lady was. While I was standing there at the spot wondering where I would go, suddenly something very strong possessed me and in a moment I was beside them. When I came close to them I did not at first look straight to the hill. They were telling me, "Come on Vicka, look, Our Lady is waving at us, while keeping something in her hand." I was afraid. I was afraid to look towards the hill. Then suddenly, maybe with the grace of God, I looked at the hill, and Our Lady was there in front of us. There are no words for man to describe that day. It was happiness because I saw Our Lady but still we are all human and I wondered if she would come tomorrow. On the second day in the afternoon the three of us, myself, Mirjana and Ivanka went walking. We said that we would go and see if our Lady was coming. We expected to see Her but still wondering if She would come. We went along the same road to the same spot as the previous day. Ivanka was again first to see Our Lady.
I returned home to bring Marija and Jakov because after the first day they asked me, "Vicka, if you see Our Lady, come and get us. We do not have to see her but we would like to be with you." So I went to bring the two of them but they were already on their way to the hill. We had nothing on our feet and it seemed that we were not walking on the ground but gliding above it. Suddenly we found ourselves at the apparition site. On that second day those who were not so shy could ask questions but mostly we were praying with the Lady. On the third day I took a glass of holy water and sprinkled it at Our Lady, I said, "If you are Our Lady, stay with us but if you are not, leave us alone." The Lady smiled, and the water which I threw just flowed off her dress.Our Lady has appeared in Medjugorje every day since June 24, 1981 to present.
Beginning on March 1, 1984, Our Lady began giving Weekly Messages to St. James parish in Medjugorje and the World.
Then, on January 25, 1987, Our Lady began giving these Messages on the 25th of each Month. After 21+ years, Our Lady still appears to 3 of the visionaries daily (Marija, Vicka, and Ivan). The 25th of the month message is always given by Our Lady to the visionary Marija.
She has told the young people: "I have come to tell the world that God exists. He is the fullness of life, and to enjoy this fullness and obtain peace, you must return to God."
During the apparitions, the visionaries do not react to light, they do not hear any earthly sound, they do not react to being touched. They have been subjected to many scientific tests even during the apparitions, and the findings are well documented. While with Our Lady they feel they are outside time and space.
Why this small village was chosen by the Blessed Mother to be the place she would again repeat her messages of Lourdes and Fatima.. that of peace and prayer.. are a divine mystery. Certainly nothing in the history of Medjugorje suggested that in this communist nation would be a fertile place to encourage prayer, conversion and devotion to God. Bosnia-Hercegovina is multi-ethnic claiming Serbs, Croats, and over 30 percent Muslims. The disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1991 led Bosnia and Hercegovina to declare its independence along with Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia.
