The 14th International Meeting for Guides and Leaders of Peace Centres and Medjugorje Prayer, Pilgrim and Charity Groups took place in Medjugorje from the 4th to the 8th of March, 2007. The theme of this gathering was: “By your perseverance you will save your lives“. (Luke 21, 19)
This year, 159 participants from 18 countries were involved in the work of the seminar. They came from Canada, the USA, Ireland, England, Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Spain, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. There were three priests among the participants.
The speakers in this year’s seminar were Dr. Fr. Ivan Ivanda from the monastery in Široki Brijeg and Fr. Branko Radoš, former parish priest of Medjugorje, who is currently in charge of a Croatian Catholic Mission in Switzerland. Fr. Ivan Ivanda spoke about the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, while Fr. Branko Radoš spoke about perseverance in fidelity to Our Lady’s message and to her call. The third day of the seminar, led by Fr. Ljubo Kurtović, was particularly dedicated to prayer and fasting. Every day began in the Yellow Hall with a half hour’s Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and concluded in the church with the Evening Prayer programme. In addition to the conferences, there were meetings suited to each relative language grouping, there was an encounter with the Parish Priest Fr. Ivan Sesar, and there was also the praying of the Rosary on Apparition Hill and the Way of the Cross on Cross Mountain.
The seminar concluded with Holy Mass, which was followed by lunch.
It will be recalled that the First International Meeting for the organizers of pilgrimages, for the leaders of Centres for Peace and of Prayer Groups, was organized in Medjugorje on the occasion of the 13th anniversary of Our Lady’s apparitions, on the 22nd and 23rd of June 1994 to be precise. For the following six years these meetings took place in Baška Voda, Tučepi and Neum, but reverted to the Medjugorje venue since 2001.
