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Angel Maria Garcia Alvarez (from Madrid, Spain), architect designer of the new crown offered to St. James’ in Medjugorje at the occasion of the 24 th anniversary of the apparitions (also designer of the magnificent Magna Monstrance offered to the Shrine in 2001) gave a testimony about how this project came about and how it was realised.

Jacques Bousquet from France came 57 times to Medjugorje. He came for the first time in the first years of the apparitions, when the name of Medjugorje was not to be found on any map yet. He remembers those days, and how the pilgrims were close to the Franciscans and the visionaries. They could be very close to them during apparitions. He remembers Fr. Slavko Barbarić who was transmitting to the pilgrims the spirit of Medjugorje. He remembers how those experiences gave him the certitude that Our Lady was really here.

Thomas Tom Lascelles, 20 years old young man, comes from Newcastle upon Tyne at the northeast of England. He was born with cerebral paralyses, and has been in a wheelchair most of his life. Despite his physical disability, there are no obstacles for this young man not problems he cannot resolve. Medjugorje is his second home today, a place he lives in and allows his dreams to come truth. Thomas was our guest in the programme of radio „Mir“ Medjugorje, and this is what he said: „I was born with cerebral paralyses and I am one of two twins that were born, but the other did not survive. I have two older sisters.

At the beginning of Holy Mass, Fr. Marinko Sakota, OFM, thanked Cardinal of Vrhbosna Vinko Puljic, for his coming here and expressed his great joy as our shepherd from Bosnia and Herzegovina joined us here. “Your Most Reverend Eminence, I know how long you have waited for this moments and how you longed to be with us in Medjugorje. I know how much you were with us and sympathised with us in these years”, said Fr. Marinko. ( PHOTO )

On Saturday, November 18, the spiritual retreat in Medjugorje was organised for the youth and students from Bistrik, Sarajevo. The members of YouFra from Brestovsko, on the occasion of preparation for their solemn vows in YouFra, joined this group at their spiritual retreat. They met early in the morning in the shrine of St. Anthony and began their journey to Medjugorje. First, they visited family centre of John Paul II, of community of the Missionaries of the Wounded Family in Vionica. There, they spent some time with the children and had opportunity for confession and then, solemn Holy Mass followed celebrated by Fr. Danijel Rajic, OFM. Youth bend „El Shaddai“, who regularly plays at the evening Holy Mass in the shrine of St. Anthony in Sarajevo. Vilim, one of the employees in the Centre spoke about how this Centre was created and how many children and elderly people are under their care. They had lunch and then they went to Mother’s Village and Merciful Father community. They heard about how this community was established, as well as about the life of late Fr. Slavko Barbaric. Young men from the community spoke about their lives in the “hell” of drugs and about their lives in the community now. At the end, young people had some free time to spend in Medjugorje and they returned home in the evening time on that day. (photos)

Mary Fernandez, 56 years old pilgrim from Miami, came to Medjugorje in 1988 for the first time. She is a pilgrim who tirelessly lives messages of Our Lady, and this is her 150th trip to this place of prayer and peace. Mary gave interview to radio Mir Medjugorje and said how her husband knew about Medjugorje before she did, but they never discussed that: „I read a book and learned about Medjugorje in it and I felt I should come here. One of my friends wanted to come too, but at the end there were 33 of us. It was then when my husband and I fell in love with Medjugorje. I am fulfilled when I am here. Each time I feel something new, this is where one feels peace. Medjugorje taught us how to look at things with the eyes of our heart and how to live happily and we are grateful to the Lord for that.“

Fr. Stanko Cosic celebrated Holy Mass for the New Year’s Eve in the packed church of St. James in Medjugorje. In his homily he spoke about how Christians need to look forward, how they need to fight against sins and weaknesses in the year that is here ahead of us. Here, we would like to bring his whole homily as it was given in that night:

On Wednesday, August 1, young people from Virovitica, Vinkovci, Petrinja and Ogulin (Croatia) came for the Youth Festival. They began their journey on July 27 and travelled for 700 kilometres in these days. The first thing they did upon their arrival was a prayer before the Statue of Our Lady outside St. James’ church. They have been coming to Medjugorje for several years now and they all gladly come to this place filled with prayers, however for some of them, it was the first time to arrive in such a way. This is what some of them said in the programme of radio Mir Medjugorje: “ This cannot be described in words, only when you come here after six days, you can see how much you had to give for this goal, to pray for your intentions or the intentions of your family and friends. We slept in different parishes and we truly thank everyone who took us in and made this journey better for us. We would also like to thank our towns and all those who prayed for us. In our hobbies, we wanted to show to others that our journey to Medjugorje was not so hard. There was song and joy too. Medjugorje is a special place, filled with prayers. This is where we find peace, and confessions are really special.“ (photos)

"I have noticed faith and prayer in people here, but faith is something that is not ours. Faith comes from God. We get faith from revelation. God reveals Himself and removes that veil to show us who He is, where He is, and how He lives. We know God, only because he wanted to reveal himself and become one of us", said Msgr. Cavalli added, emphasizing that "people who come here, motivated solely by faith, want to seek God through the Scriptures." ( PHOTO )

Married couple Kristina and Zvonimir Barač come from the Croatian Catholic Mission Zürich in Switzerland. They have five children from 6 months to 10 years of age, and Kristina came to live there in the beginning of the homeland war here. They spoke on our radio Mir and shared the story of their conversion in Medjugorje, how their life of faith began when their first child was born and how they came with him here.