Many pilgrims arrived to Medjugorje for Easter this year and all of them, together with parishioners took part in the liturgical celebration of Easter Triduum. Pilgrims came from Italy, the United States, Ireland, France, Germany, Lebanon, Austria, Portugal, Argentina, Spain, Latvia, England, Slovakia, Korea, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Fr. Hrvoje Miletic led the prayer of Rosary on Holy Thursday and Fr. Ivan Dugandzic celebrated Holy Mass of Lord’s Supper along with 25 priests who have concelebrated. Fr. Ivan is his homily said that Jesus was born in the poorest circumstances, lived among poor people, died deprived of his clothes and was buried in someone else’s grave because he did not have his grave. (photos)
Objavljeno: 22.04.2014.
“Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”
(John 20,21)
To all parishioners, pilgrims, friends, benefactors, and to all men of goodwill a
Blessed and Happy Easter!
Parish priest and the Franciscans
(photos)
Uskrsna cestitka 2014 - fra Marinko Sakota
Objavljeno: 19.04.2014.
Sunday, April 20, Resurrection of our Lord – Holy Masses in Croatian language in the parish church will be held at 7, 8, 11 a.m. and at 6 p.m.
Objavljeno: 16.04.2014.
Palm Sunday or Sunday of Passion of our Lord brings us into the Holy Week and the preparation for the greatest Christian solemnity – Easter. As in the previous weeks, the liturgy of Palm Sunday on April 13 began on the grounds of the old parish church at 10.30 a.m. After the Gospel was read and olive branches were blessed, the Procession with readers, priests, altar boys and all parishioners and pilgrims, continued towards the parish church. After arriving to the church, Fr. Karlo Lovric celebrated Holy Mass at 11 a.m. in the parish church of St. James. Fr. Mladen Herceg celebrated the evening Holy Mass at 6 p.m. with seven priests concelebrating. Many pilgrims have arrived from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, England, Italy, the United States, Germany, Austria, France, Belgium and Ireland. Apart from three Holy Masses in Croatian language, there were five Holy Masses celebrated in other languages. Many pilgrims also joined the parish in prayer of Rosary on Apparition Hill at 2 p.m. (photos)
Objavljeno: 13.04.2014.
Every Friday during the Lent after the evening Holy Mass, Franciscans from Medjugorje parish are leading devotion of the Way of the Cross. Last Friday, this devotion was more special because two choirs “Pro Musica” from Mostar and “Prijatelji” from Citluk were leading this Way of the Cross with songs and in words as well. Fr. Dragan Filipovic, conductor of the choir “Pro Musica” composed the lyrics of late Croatian poet Branko Klaric that he wrote during the war. “This Way of the Cross was written for choir, single performers and orchestra. I thank all those who participated and who have helped and contributed in this music work of the Way of the Cross. I liked what Branko Klaric wrote and as I was discovering textual melody, this Way of the Cross was made. Late Branko Klaric wrote one or two verses for each station of the Way of the Cross and many are familiar with those words”, said Fr. Dragan. This Way of the Cross was broadcasted live by radio station Mir Medjugorje.
Objavljeno: 06.04.2014.
Number of Holy Communions: 65 800
Number of priests that concelebrated at Holy Masses: 1344 (43 per day)
Objavljeno: 01.04.2014.
Around 150 pilgrims from Istria, Croatia came to Medjugorje last weekend. They were all from area around town Rovinj and they came as a part of their annual pilgrimage that is organised always during the Lent. Rebeka Sebastijan and Marija Pendic from Rovinj witnessed about their experience of pilgrimage and conversion in the radio programme of radio station Mir Medjugorje. Rebeka spoke about this year’s pilgrimage to Medjugorje and about activities of faithful through the Third Franciscan Order in Rovinj:
Objavljeno: 27.03.2014.
Many pilgrims from all over the world are coming to Medjugorje and many of them end up as our guests in the radio programme of Radio Mir Medjugorje. This last Wednesday, on the feast of St. Joseph, members of the choir Mihovil from Split were our guests. They gave their testimonies and sang as a part of our show Evening of the spiritual music. This choir was established in 2006, and they are active in the parish Kamen in Split. At the moment they have around 30 members, and they were named after their patron saint, St. Michael, while their leader is Mate Pocrnjic. This choir was noticeable at many festivals of the spiritual music, such as Uskrsfest, Hosanafest, Marijafest, Papafest and Krapinafest. In 2009, they have also published CD with their own music, called “Embrace of love”, that contains 12 songs that are fruit of their meditations and prayer.
Objavljeno: 21.03.2014.
Medjugorje was busy in the last few days and there were groups of pilgrims from the following coutries: Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Italy, the United States, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Korea, Hungary, Latvia and Slovenia. Massimo Nosscenttini from Italy shared his testimony with us and he heard about Medjugorje in 1981, for the first time, but arrived here already in 1983. His profession is a bus driver and he told us that Gospa completely changed his life.
Objavljeno: 20.03.2014.
Giosepina Russo from Sicily works in the agency for pilgrimages in Marian shrines throughout the world. She visited all Marian shrines in Europe on few occasions, but somehow never had chance to come to Medjugorje. Even though she was told that Medjugorje is not recognised shrine yet and should not be mentioned to pilgrims, she felt great desire to come here. Mrs. Russo said that she did not even know where Medjugorje was in Europe. She came to Medjugorje last year and remained here for 15 days.
Objavljeno: 18.03.2014.
The visionary Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo had daily apparitions from June 24th 1981 to December 25th 1982. During the last daily apparition, Our Lady gave her the 10th secret, and told her that she would appear to her once a year, on the 18th of March. It has been this way through the years. Several thousand pilgrims gathered in prayer of the Rosary.. The apparition lasted from 13:46 to 13:51.
Dear children! As a mother, I desire to be of help to you. With my motherly love, I desire to help you to open your heart and to put my Son in the first place in it. Through your love for my Son and through your prayer, I desire for God’s light to illuminate you and God’s mercy to fill you. In this way, I desire for the darkness, and the shadow of death which wants to encompass and mislead you, to be driven away. I desire for you to feel the joy of the blessing of God’s promise. You, children of man, you are God’s children - you are my children. Therefore, my children, set out on the ways on which my love leads you, teaches you humility and wisdom, and finds the way to the Heavenly Father. Pray with me for those who do not accept me and do not follow me - those who, because of hardness of their hearts, cannot feel the joy of humility, devotion, peace and love – the joy of my Son. Pray that your shepherds, with their blessed hands, may always give you the joy of God’s blessing. Thank you.
Objavljeno: 18.03.2014.
On Sunday, March 16, 2014, we celebrated the 80th anniversary of construction of the cross on Cross Mountain and of the first Holy Mass that was celebrated at the foot of that cross. During the Holy Mass at 11 a.m., celebrated by the parish priest Fr. Marinko Sakota, all faithful remembered the Franciscans and parishioners who participated in the construction. The solemn academy was held in the evening and the documentary about the construction of the cross was shown. The scenery of this film was written by Dr. Ivica Sarac and the author of the film is Mario Vasilj Totin. Fr. Marinko said during the Holy Mass in his homily:
Objavljeno: 17.03.2014.
Fr. Grgur Blažević is a member of Franciscan Province of St. Cyril and Methodius. He was born in 1978 in Zagreb and was ordained last year on June 15 as a priest. Today he is a parish vicar in the parish of St. Nicholas in Čakovec. His father Grga comes regularly to the Queen of Peace as a pilgrims and he is also group leader for the last few decades and brings groups here. Fr. Grgur said that Medjugorje formed his family, especially his parents that brought the spirit of Medjugorje into it: “After my parents experienced the special affections towards Medjugorje they started to live all of the messages and they wanted us to understand that. To be honest, we did not understand that, we were “children of this world” and we could not understand that our parents wished well to us and that it was important to live in the Christian way, in the way Our Lady was inviting us to live, to pray in the family, to live sacramental life and to read the Holy Bible. My dear parents invited us to prayer every single evening. That was really boring for me, made me tired and I could not understand that. But the prayer that our parents were placing in our family for many years, had later on brought many fruits”, said Fr. Grgur who was coming to Medjugorje as a child with his parents very often.
Objavljeno: 15.03.2014.
Famous pianist from Croatia, Prof. Vesna Podrug Kossjanenko held pianist recital in the Hall of St. Joseph in Mother’s Village on Wednesday, March 12. The concert was organised by the Elementary Music School Ljubuski in cooperation with Mother’s Village and Fr. Dragan Ruzic, Head of Mother’s Village greeted all present at the beginning. She performed the works of L.V.Beethoven, F.Schubert, F.Liszt and F.Chopin.
Prior to the concert Prof. Vesna Podrug Kossjanenko said for radio station Mir Međugorje that her concert in Medjugorje was realised in a very short notice. Couple of years ago, I met student Ana Coric from Mostar and two weeks ago I told her about my desire to perform in Mostar with the programme I had prepared for the concert in Split. The concert in Mostar did not take place unfortunately, but after a while Ana told me that I could perform in Medjugorje. Here I am today, at my surprise”, said this famous ianist that was born in Split and began her music education in the class of Prof. Gordana Lentic. In 1986, she began to study in Hochschule fur Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, and already during her student days she performed many recitals. She performed with many famous artists and held many concerts in Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland, Ireland, Great Britain, Finland, Turkey and Croatia. In the period from 1998 -2008, she was performing the duty of permanent co-repetitor in Vienna National Opera, and from 2002 – 2008, she worked as pedagogical associate at the University for Music and Art in Vienna. Since 2007, she works as docent for piano at Art Academy in Split.
Objavljeno: 14.03.2014.
The ceremony of reception into the Third Franciscan Order as well as of the solemn vows of several members took place on the first Sunday in Lent, March 9, 2014 in the parish church of St. James. During the morning Holy Mass at 9.30 a.m. nine members of the brotherhood gave their solemn vows, two of them temporary and eighteen of them were received into the Order. Regional Minister of the Third Franciscan Order in Herzegovina, Marija Brnadic received their vows and regional spiritual assistant of the Order, Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic, confirmed those on behalf of the Church. He celebrated that Holy Mass, and Fr. Ivan Landeka Jr., the spiritual assistant of the brotherhood, concelebrated. Fr. Ivan prepared candidates for this solemn act and provided all spiritual care that was needed, with the help of Mila Culjak, regional teacher of formation. Small choir of parish of St. James, conducted by Sr. Irena Azinovic, made this celebration even more beautiful with their harmonious liturgical singing.
Objavljeno: 14.03.2014.
