The Miracle of Medjugorje in english

Eventually someone would come..

An English missionary to China in the 1900’s, Gladys Aylward, came to understand the real power of the word of God one afternoon, in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in northern China. She and her companion, a Chinese doctor were exhausted from walking and knelt down on the grass and prayed, she prayed for food and shelter ,  her companion prayed ‘O God, send us the one you want us to tell about Jesus’ They then broke into songs of praise. At that point a man appeared on the brow of a hill; he was a llama (Buddhist monk). He beckoned them and took them to his monastery way up on top of a mountain.


They were taken to see the abbot and he showed them a scrap of paper, that one of the monks brought back years before from a town where they sold their crops, it read ‘For God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (Jn3:16). That was all, but they learned from that short passage that there was a God who loved and they all read and re-read that passage and wanted to know who the God who loved was.


They sent monks out to towns and villages to try and find out. One heard that Jesus had commanded his disciples to ‘go out into the whole world, and proclaim the good news’ The abbot reasoned that if the first passage was true, the second was too and that eventually someone would come and tell them the rest of the story.


Gladys and her companion stayed on for many days and laid out the Gospel story for them. Every night after they finished, there would be a queue outside their rooms of Buddhists wanting to know more...

Common sense is the enemy of the supernatural life

It’s interesting how God revealed Himself in the three persons of the Trinity sequentially and how each step takes that revelation to a deeper, more intimate level. 

I owe a lot to Cecil B. DeMille and Charlton Heston for my introduction to God in the movie The Ten Commandments, a burning bush on Sinai, His mighty deeds in Eygpt – this was a God I wanted in my corner. As a boy I rather hoped to climb Mt. Sinai and see if He was in. 

The image of Jesus is certainly different, more personal though not lacking drama by any means. I find that the scene on the shore of Lake Galilee, after His work, death and Resurrection is completed, tells a lot about Him. It’s a rather ordinary scene, breakfast on the shore with His friends to strengthen their hearts and celebrate. There is no pomp and ceremony; if you’ll excuse the absurdity, St Peter’s doesn’t put on a big hat while the apostles line up in height order and start chanting (in Latin) while he wafts incense in Jesus’ general direction. I wonder if we have lost sight a bit of what He is really like. 

At Pentecost the Holy Spirit is revealed to us and this is the area where we have really lost the plot. The principle thing that happened with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was the beginning of the supernatural life of the church. As the apostles witnessed, their word was confirmed by the miracles that accompanied their testimony as they were led by the indwelling Spirit. 

Are we led by the same indwelling Spirit ? It’s said that “common sense (worldly wisdom) is the enemy of the supernatural life” or the life in the Spirit as often the supernatural life is counter intuitive. For example in Acts 3:6-7 where Peter meets a lame beggar at the beautiful gate. Common sense may lead us to help in a practical way, food, small change, etc. but the supernatural life says “in the name of Jesus of Nazareth I order you to get up and walk” which of course he did. Similarly in Acts 9:36-40 where a believer called Tabitha dies. Common sense might recommend an undertaker, the supernatural life caused Peter to kneel down and pray and say to the corpse “Tabitha, get up” which she did. For that to happen in our day we must be open to the Spirit, develop the interior life and listen to the Spirit or we will miss those moments in hesitation or because of our allegiance to common sense..

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Benefits of praying for the Holy Souls...

The cases of intercession of the souls in Purgatory are numerous :-

The following one, which is among the best known and most moving, happened in Paris in 1817.

A domestic servant, who had the pious habit of having a Mass said every month for the souls in Purgatory, became ill and having to be hospitalized, lost her job.

Upon leaving the hospital, she went to a church to pray, where she remembered that she had failed to have Mass said for the poor souls that month. However due to her unemployment, she could not afford a Mass offering since it would leave her penniless. After hesitating, she gave the offering.

Leaving the church, she met a young man who seemed to be a noble. He unexpectedly asked her if she needed employment and gave her the address of a house, which needed a maid.

When she arrived at the house, the owner, who had just dismissed her maid, wondered who could have known that she needed help. While describing the young man at the Church, the servant saw a painting of him on the wall.

Hearing this, the owner exclaimed, "That is my son, who died two months ago!"

Then both realized that God wanted to reward the maid's charity and reveal the power of a suffering soul's intercession.

Eucharistic Miracle of Santarem

The  Miracle involves a woman and her unfaithful husband. In a desperate attempt to save her marriage, the woman went to see a sorceress for help. The sorceress said she would grant the woman’s wish of renewing the husband’s fidelity: in exchange for the woman bringing her a consecrated Host. Reluctantly the woman decided to commit the sacrilege and steal a host. The woman went to Mass at the Church of St. Stephen, she received the Holy Eucharist in her mouth, then took the Sacred Host out of her mouth and wrapped it in her veil, and headed quickly out of the church.

Before she had taken more than a few steps, the Host began to bleed. It bled so much that it appeared as if she had cut her hand. Several concerned parishioners went to help her, but as they reached her, she ran out of the church.

Upon returning home, she threw the bloody Host into the bottom of an old trunk in her bedroom. As was his custom, her husband returned late that night. During the middle of the night, a mysterious light emanated from the trunk. When the couple awoke, the woman confessed to her husband what she had done. They then both knelt in adoration and repentance before the Miracle.

The next morning they told the parish priest what had happened. The Host was then placed in a wax container and solemnly returned to the Church of St. Stephen. Of course, upon hearing the news, the villagers hurried to the church to see and venerate the Miracle.

When the priest opened the tabernacle another miracle had taken place! The wax container holding the Sacred Host was found shattered in many pieces, and the Host was now enclosed in a crystal pyx. After an exhaustive investigation by ecclesiastical authorities, the Miracle was approved. It is believed that St. Francis Xavier visited the Church of the Holy Miracle before setting off for missionary work in India.

It is an article of our faith that the wine and bread literally become the body and blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ during the Consecration, and to actually see it physically manifested is a wonderful experience.

"Testimony of Medjugorje International Relief "

Lets get a van, fill it with food, and take it to Bosnia

On a cold February evening in Manchester in 1993 this simple (some might say naive or downright stupid) idea was born. Perhaps even more unlikely was that it was going to work out and develop over the coming months & years beyond our wildest dreams.

God chooses the weak, the least qualified, the inexperienced and the barmy (crazy) to show His power and glory, and that is precisely what He did with us and still does.

No-one in the team had any experience of aid work, fundraising, or the myriad of difficulties we would be presented with, many were not even practicing Catholics at that stage. We just took that first step or decision and God took over”.

First we needed a place to store the foodstuffs that would be collected from donors and churches in the area. At a local church, (where we are still based 12 years on) there was a pre-fab, formerly an old school building which would make a good warehouse. The PP immediately gave his permission for us to use it.

Next we needed to start collecting food. A handwritten poster was made and photocopies distributed to churches in the neighboring parishes along with big conspicuous cardboard boxes. More volunteers arrived and word started to spread further a field.

Food was flooding in, so fast we couldn't pack it quick enough; the carrier bags full, soon turned into car boots full and even Van loads started to arrive from churches of all denominations from all over the city and beyond even Cheshire and Derbyshire.

Funds started to come in too, the local council even allowed us to have street collections, city-wide for 3 weekends on the run. (quite unheard of).

Success brings new problems ! How could we get all this food over to Bosnia, we would need a fleet of vans ! Which despite the fundraising was still well out of our grasp.

As we pondered this, a new volunteer arrived, with an incredible story, and the answer to my prayers (even though I did not pray then). He was a landscape gardener at Manchester Airport and on his travels had seen a number of redundant (but in good working order) vehicles rusting on the apron.

He went to see the Managing Director of the airport and asked if we could have them to take to Bosnia, He said yes and a few phone calls later, they were signed over to us (filled with petrol !) and we drove them back (quick, before they change their minds).

There wasn't one mechanic between us and so we would have to beg for help once again. Again, all doors were opened to us, Quicks carried out urgent repairs to one van and all the rest were given a thorough inspection and service by the Territorial Army transport corps whose base was round the corner from our warehouse.

We were all set, and this was only the first trip to Medjugorje. Others followed as did many tons of food, toiletries, blankets, medical equipment, ambulances and vans.

Another little surprise awaited many of the drivers once they arrived in Medjugorje, a change of heart , a new found faith or renewal of a luke-warm one. The writer needed several trips to penetrate his stubborn heart, but Our Lady never quits ! 

Over the next 27 years the appeal has continued but with a wider remit, sending millions of pounds in aid to 30+ countries throughout the world.

Still a bunch of amateurs, still in a shed in Old Trafford, still relying on providence for all we need, our catch phrase might be “God softens the hearts and we pack the boxes and sign the cheques just directing traffic ! 

One man’s good deed is another mans miracle on the first trip to Bosnia, we visited a refugee camp the day after the refugees arrived with nothing, (very timely!). One old man approached us, as we unloaded boxes of food, he had been forced to leave his home by soldiers and only given a few minutes to gather his possessions and had lost his spectacles, did we have any ? As an after-thought, just before we left England, we put a small box of specs in, to fill a space. He rooted through the box trying different pairs on and found some that were just right ! He was filled with joy, such an easy thing for the donor to give, but the gift of sight to this poor man.

God Has Saved us for the last 2 years, much of the fundraising has been directed to the slave redemption programme in the Sudan with partners Christian Solidarity International On one recent mission, one boy and his grandmother were set-free from slavery and the Boy said I want to become a Christian and be called William, because God Has Saved Us! 

Hold the Front Page - a letter from Kenya we received following a donation sent to enable them to keep a pro-life newspaper running, read as soon as we received your letter, we immediately ran to the church to thank God for His provision.

There are many other examples, the point being that this work is in the hands of God and the recipients receive it as such. Every 6 months we have an empty warehouse and an empty bank account, and God fills them both up as we embark on the next project He has in store for us.

Evangelisation ? - a funny example was applying for a minibus permit from a government office. We had to submit a constitution for the charity,, and naturally enough included information about Medjugorje. The phone rang and the clerk who was processing our application, a lapsed Catholic, and her boss, another lapsed Catholic, wanted to know all about Medjugorje ! You get the picture !

Icon of Our Lady Queen of Peace

Two of our volunteers, a husband and wife team, commissioned an Icon of Our Lady Queen of Peace, based on the descriptions of Our Lady given by the visionaries in Medjugorje, in May 2002.

It was written by a Russian Orthodox Iconographer in Walsingham and interestingly completed in October as the Pope gave us the new luminous mysteries of the Rosary and declared a year of the Rosary.

Subsequently the Icon ,after debuting at Medjugorje International Relief’s 10th anniversary day of prayer at the Schoenstatt shrine in Manchester, has been traveling across the city to many of the churches that have helped over the years, sometimes just for a day of prayer or for extended periods.

There have been some interesting stories associated with its presence.

At one church the PP decided to have devotions on a Wednesday night during its stay, Rosary, a talk about Our Lady and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. This continued for some months and then all-day adoration started on the Wednesday preceding the Rosary in the evening. Now, some months later, the parish has an adoration chapel which is open all day and every day ! As the familiar saying goes, to Jesus through Mary.

Interestingly, our income also rose by about 300% during that time.

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