date: 22.09.2025.
The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross was solemnly celebrated in Medjugorje on Sunday, September 14th, with a Holy Mass on Križevac. Parishioners have been celebrating Holy Mass at this place for more than ninety years, since the cross was built, and for the past more than 40 years, there is no country in the world from which pilgrims have not come to this hill above Medjugorje with their prayers, vows, thanksgiving, tears, yet so often barefoot, bringing tears, they turn the sharp Herzegovinian stone into gentle pebbles, fathers carry children in their arms, mothers grasping the rosary...The same was this year too. Although the majority of the pilgrims on Cross Mountain were domestic pilgrims from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, there were also foreign pilgrims, and pilgrims from the parishes of Herzegovina came walking to celebrate Holy Mass at this holy place today.
"Every place where there is a cross is holy, and every time we set out on the path of the cross, we are on the path of the holy," said the provincial of the Franciscan Province of Herzegovina, Fr. Jozo Grbeš, opening the Holy Mass.
Fr. Jozo said in his homily that "the cross leads us to reflect on the one who changed the world with it."
"He changed every person who wants to follow Him. In the entire history of human existence, only one person is known for the cross. Only His name is accompanied by a cross. Only the crucifixion is associated with Him. He himself is the cross! Only one person turned the world upside down and His name is Jesus. He is a provocation, an inspiration and salvation for this world”, said Fr. Jozo and added that “although the world is full of smart heads and is full of wise men of this or that kind, it is full of philosophers of the East and the West” that only Jesus called for humility, to the cross, to love, to the last places…
Fr. Jozo also said that giving life is a losing that wins and that by giving a person always receives and that history remembers the givers, not the takers.
“This Jesus of Nazareth, the one who was nailed to the cross, humbled himself in order to come down to man. He “humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.” (Phil 2:6-11). Because of this humility, Paul tells us: “God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” Oh, how great this humility is. “that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:13-17) Oh, how simple that formula is – become a friend of Jesus and you will have eternity. If humility brought God to earth, humility can also bring him into our lives. Therefore, dear Christians, you have only one path and that path is called humility,” said Fr. Jozo Grbeš, and he said that Jesus is the only one before whom we bow our knees.
“When we bow to Him, we bow to nothing and no one else! Not to any man, not to any thing, not to any authority, not to any idea. If we bow to others, then we are not to him! In his name we rise, we hope, we heal, we forgive, we free ourselves from evil, we save... His name gives strength! In His name salvation happens. "Therefore, let us call on his name," urged Fr. Jozo, and he also referred to today's Psalm 78, which says: "Do not forget the works of the Lord."
"Don't forget Him! You can forget everything and you can forget everyone, but don't forget Him! No soul wants to be forgotten. This cross is a sign of that. Yes, it is true: If you don't forget Him, then you will not forget a single person. He always gives us people so that we are not alone on the journey. On the other hand, it is also true: if you forget Him, all those you remember will be in vain. We will remain alone. The most painful reality of human life is to remain alone. Not to feel love. Not to be forgiven. "Don't forget me..." - cries every human being. Therefore, dear friends, let us not forget Him. If we don't forget Him, then everything in our life will fall into place as it should. It is a simple formula of wisdom,'' said Fr. Jozo Grbeš, and speaking of the cross as a sign, he also said that forgiveness, motherhood, surrender took place on the cross...
''May this cross here on Cross Mountain and every cross, in our home or around our neck, be a sign for us to follow it: to become humble people, to live love, to forgive everything and everyone and to say: Lord, my life into your hands! I trust you! We have no one else to go to, because the world does not forgive. The world hates the truth! Speaking the truth is very dangerous in all times, and especially in ours! The world kills. That world killed a great man in America, it killed Charlie, it kills the children of Israel and Gaza, it kills the children of Ukraine, the children of Sudan, Somalia, millions of people all over the world. In many places, in every part of the earth, that world kills.
That world that hates the truth killed Fr. Bernardin Smoljan, who, together with the people of Medjugorje, erected this cross some 90 years ago. We have to choose constantly in life, every day, so let us choose Him. With Him, man is safe. With Him, it will be easier for us to be humble and speak the truth. Let us choose Him. Christ is love. If we choose Him, life will be simple for us and we will become witnesses," said Fr. Jozo Grbeš, and at the end he told the multitude of believers on Cross Mountain: "When you look at the cross, do not forget love, and everything else will be added to you." (PHOTO)
