date: 06.08.2025.
On the second day of the 36th International Youth Prayer Festival on Tuesday, August 5, on the feast of Our Lady of the Snows - Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary the Great, the Holy Mass was celebrated on the White Dome of the Church of St. James by Fr. Jozo Grbeš, the Provincial of the Herzegovina Franciscan Province, and concelebrated by three bishops and 614 priests. Fr. Mate Tadić let the prayer of the Rosary.
At the beginning of his homily, Fr. Jozo Grbeš referred to the Youth Festival motto: "Let us go to the house of the Lord!" (Ps, 122,1) and said that the continuation of that sentence reads: ''Behold, our feet are already standing at the door..."
''How often it is like this: the feet and the body are there, but the heart needs to enter and cannot enter at all. So often it struggles, pauses, hesitates to enter. That is why we are here at this Youth Festival, so that our lives may truly enter the temple of the Lord, so that we may truly understand life as Christ says. He calls us: Come. Let us arise. Let us go. Let us bear witness. Let us listen to the word! Let us open the eyes of our souls. He is waiting! The feet have already arrived. So often our feet reach the temple on Sundays, but the soul is somewhere around. How often we need just that little push, an encouragement of the spirit or the testimony of someone's life to open that door for the soul to enter'', said Fr. Jozo, and referring to the Gospel passage in which it is said: ''While he was saying this, a woman from the crowd cried out, he said and spoke to the youth about the crowds, referring that crowds can block us, and we need to be, just like Jesus was, opposite against this world-
''Life is a game of big and small, magnificent and weak, unknown and merciful. This is the case of Medjugorje: here from the poor, marginalized, suppressed Croatian people and place this grace gushed forth. These paths that you follow on the hills were made by bare human feet, bare and hardened, so full of sufferings and seeking, in difficult times.
This is the case so often in our lives. Where man cannot see, one finds pearls. Where man doesn’t expect, the pearls are found, where man doesn’t hope in silence and solitude, he encounters the Lord”, said Fr. Jozo Grbeš, who spoke about two realities of Medjugorje.
''The first one says: ''Dear children!''. ''Dear children'' is the main way of addressing us in this place of Medjugorje. We are children! Let us not forget to be children! If we do not become like children, there is no heaven! There is no heaven without that. Christ says: "Unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of God!" (Mt 18:3) Dear children, heaven begins with that.
Also another reality is found in the greeting: ''Peace... let peace reign between God and men!'' We Christians should not only wish, dream, talk about peace. We must be peacemakers. We must raise our voices today for the children of Gaza and for the children of Ukraine and against all evil ideologies, movements and acts. Christians are called to raise our voices, you must not be silent, the world is in chaos, and we must not be. If we remain silent, no matter what part of the world, what race, nation, religion... If Christians remain silent, there will be no one to speak. Therefore, I beg you, if we understand this second part of Christ's call, do not be afraid! Let us turn into an ear these days!'', said Fr. Jozo Grbeš and called on us to hear Our Lady and walk with her.
''Therefore, I beg you: Do not be afraid to be contrary to this world. To be different from it. To be unique, because it is counting on you. The blessed state of mind begins with listening to the word. Let us not go the same. And finally, I beg you, let us not be formal Christians, there are too many of them today. Too many'', were the words with which Fr. Jozo Grbeš concluded his sermon.
This day began at five in the morning or earlier, when many woke up to participate in the prayer of the rosary at six on the Apparition Hill. After that, Fr. Zvonimir Pavičić, who had prayed the rosary, led the morning prayer from nine o'clock at the White Dome of the church of St. James, and then catechesis was held for the youth by Fr. Miro Šego, parish priest of the parish of Christ the King in Čitluk and vicar of the Herzegovina Franciscan Province. He is close to the visionaries in terms of generation, he socialized with them, so he spoke about the first days of the apparitions and how it changed his life, that is, determined him for a spiritual vocation, although until that June 1981 he had other plans for his life.
Fr. Miro also spoke about the first days of the apparitions, socializing with the visionaries, prayer and work of the locals at that time, communist persecution, apparitions in the church, a new daily lifestyle, going to mass every day, the fruits of Medjugorje, prayer...
He emphasized that Our Lady calls for prayer in her messages, said that 44 years ago, walking through the village, only prayer could be heard, and invited the youth to pray, as in the past when, after hard work in the fields, families would sit at the table and pray together every evening. Fr. Miro reminded the youth of Our Lady's words: "Pray, pray, pray..." and encouraged the youth that "through prayer they will discover strength, joy, grace, peace..."
Before the Holy Mass, in the afternoon part of the program, donors and beneficiaries of Mary's Meals, led by the founder of this organization, which is the fruit of Medjugorje, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, shared their testimonies.
The fruit of Medjugorje is also the vocation of the Spanish priest, Fr. Gonzalo Moreno Ponce, who also spoke today. He came to Medjugorje to expose the fraud, and here on the Apparition Hill he left behind his old way of life marked by football hooliganism and accepted Our Lady's call to the priesthood.
In the morning part of the program, members of the humanitarian organization Mary’s Hands, founded by Jakov Čolo, and whose fifty volunteers regularly care for 650 families, gave their testimony, and the afternoon part of the program before the start of the rosary was concluded by musicians Roland Patzleiner and Agostino Ricotta.
Agostino Ricotta spoke about how he played the guitar at one of the first Youth Festivals with Fr. Slavko Barbarić in 1992, when, as he said, all the participants stood inside the outer altar and that he was very happy because he used his talents for Our Lady. He sang his songs with the young people, written for the Youth Festival several decades ago, which are still performed today.
Roland Patzleiner said that he has participated in almost all the Youth Festivals and that in Medjugorje he experienced the gentleness and tenderness of God through music. He said that he considers playing in the Medjugorje church for adoration for 23 years to be Our Lady's plan and feels privileged because he was chosen to be able to do so. He said that in Medjugorje he felt the love of Jesus and found peace, so at the end he sang with the choir a song he wrote for peace - 'Evenu Shalom'.
After the Holy Mass, the day ended with a procession with the statue of Our Lady and adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. (PHOTO)
