Twenty
years ago today I was in Medjugorje; its an important place to me even though
back then in 1993 I was more concerned with the War than the Queen of Peace
appearing.
It seemed
a very odd mixture really, 3 simultaneous wars raging, one was with bullets and
rocket launchers, the second was the bickering between religious types arguing
over whether the apparitions were real or not, signs and so on, and lastly the
rescue mission, where the souls of men and women, individually and personally,
were wrestled from satan’s clutches.
Whilst
religion always gives me a headache, what the living God does, so often at the
behest of Our Lady, always captures my attention. To see the stones on the
hillsides of medjugorje eroded with the tears of millions of penitent lost
sheep is amazing grace indeed. Addicts are set free, the sick healed, the
broken hearted put back together again.
But
those steep mountain sides of Krizevac and Apparition hill are not an end in
themselves, just the foothills for the difficult trail that lies ahead. It’s a
new beginning to be sure, a clean slate, but it’s only a beginning in the greatest
adventure of your life, the journey of faith.
‘In’-
language is difficult to translate, Medjugorje converts have theirs as do our
saints and mystics of old to describe the supernatural encounter that leads to
repentance and renewal of heart. I think of it as akin to waking up from a
dream; a sudden realization that the real world is entirely different to the
one you thought you were living in.
What I
do know is that all are welcome there. A contrite heart will find its rest. If you
know you need it, jump on the next plane.
