Medjugorje

Before I start, I just want to say I’m not religious as all, maybe spiritual but not religious.

Medjugorje is an amazing place. It is a place where you would never think I would visit, especially if you have read some of my other opinion, plus it is a place I would have never thought I would go either. If you have never heard of it, it is a place of religious tourism, thousands and thousands of people travel there every year from all around the world.

I first heard of it when my brother was dying in hospital after an accident, a nun, a friend of my aunt came into the room where I sitting with him. She pulled out of rosary beads and blessed him with it and then gave it to me saying, ‘this will gave you strength to get though this’. She told me it was from Medjugorje and that Our Lady blessed it. Many miracles and healings have taken place there.

A year later my mother decided to go and see it for herself, three weeks before she was going I suddenly decided to go with her, for no real reason. But now I know there were a few sub-conscious reasons, because of the rosary beads the nun blessed my brother with and gave me, to support my mother, as I knew she was going there to pray for my brothers who passed, to be there on one of my brothers birthday and just to go there and see it, as in see Bosnia.

Medjugorje is a small mountain, farming village in Bosnia, Herzegovina. It is in the middle of nowhere really. The countryside is very rough and barren. The field are just rock. It is amazing to see. Before 1981, there were no more than 500 people living in Medjugorje. There were no proper services such as electricity, telephone, running water, or no roads as we know them. There were no hotels, no restaurants, and no shops, and they grew tobacco plants and grapes.

Today, 20 odd years later, Medjugorje is a completely different place. Medjugorje today is a beautiful small town of about 3,000 people living there. There are now over 15,000 beds in hotels and private pensions (guest houses with full board), many restaurants, souvenirs shops (full of holy pictures, rosary beads, status, and so must more holy stuff), travel agencies, and lots of professional guides in all the major languages. The local people are really hospitable and kind, there is nothing they would not do for you.

The food is great there, it is so tasty, and everything is so fresh as it is grown there. The tomatoes, I will never forget, so sweet, I could not get enough of them. Eating out there is so cheap, you could get a two course meal for three people for only €12, how good is that. In Medjugorje they will accept any currency, this has helped their economy no end.

When we were there it was in august, it was very very hot. On getting off the plane, we walked into a wall of heat, at 1.00 am it was 30C, during the day the temperature hit 46C, but it was a nice dry heat, it was manageable.

While there, the guides take you on tours around the place, it is up to you if you go or not. Two of the most memorable tour we went on, were when we climbed the hill of Apparition and the Cross Mountain (see photos at the bottom). When we climbed Cross Mountain, we headed out at 4.30 am, to miss the big heat. First you walk though their vineyards to the foot of the mountain (you can get a taxi but you miss out). From the foot of the mountain is a hard, slow climb up rough terrain, it took about 3 hours or so to get to the top, but it was well worth it, the view, Wow the view was Fantastic, a mountain range at one side and a view of Medjugorje on the other. the hill of Apparition just a nice walk and is just as enjoyable.

THE STORY THAT PUT MEDJUGORJE ON THE MAP:
This is the short version: June 24th 1981, two girls, Ivanka Ivankovic age 14, and Mirjana Dragicevic age 16, were walking in the hills. Ivanka saw a bright light on the hill and then saw a beautiful silhouette of a woman. "It is the Gospa!" (what they call Our Lady) she said to Mirjana, they very scared, and ran home. On June 25th, the two girls returned to the hill with four friends. Their names are, Vicka Ivankovic age 16, Ivan Dragivevic age 16, Maria Pavlovic age 16 and Jakov Colo age 10. They saw a person in white was calling them to come up the hill. It was a beautiful Lady who calls herself, the Queen of Peace. This happened on the hill of Apparition. Gospa/Our lady has appear every day since then, she appears to the visionaries every day at 5.40 pm.

Our Lady gives messages to the visionaries for the whole world. Her overall message through the years is peace. She has requested conversion, prayer, fasting, faith, peace and reconciliation, in these messages. The visionaries are also receiving ten secrets each in total. The 9th and 10th secrets are of future chastisements for the sins of the world. The visionaries say the 10 secrets are to remain secrets, until all have received their 10 secrets. Three have received their 10 and three have received 9. Only the visionaries know the time the messages will be revealed. The messages about chastisements will be announced to the world three days before the event is to take place.

TESTS: The apparitions in Medjugorje are the first apparitions in history to be thoroughly investigated by science. Two of the visionaries do not blink at all during the apparition, which can last up to an hour. They simultaneously kneel and all eye movements stops, tests have shown that they look at precisely the same spot with no reason to do so. There is also the simultaneous raising of their heads and gazing upwards while remaining fixated on a spot moving upwards when the apparition is finishing. They also have no reaction to pain during the apparition. Hearing tests before and during an apparition showed normal hearing, but during the apparition the visionaries showed no reaction to any level of sound. Tests confirm that the visionaries brain functioning is healthy and normal.

Religious or not, a believer or not, Medjugorje is a place to visit. Bosnia is a beautiful country, with great people. Whether on a pilgrimage or a day trip, see it and enjoy it.

Thanks for reading.