Medjugorje

When we are talking about ‘Medjugorje’, then it is more than just talking about a town in Herzegovina that carries this name. It is about the movement that this name has triggered since six young people indicated that on the 24th of June 1981 Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus, in Medjugorje named Gospa, appeared to them, and she is still appearing and giving messages to them until today. The four most important aspects of this movement can be described as this: Firstly, it is a movement of pilgrimage. Until this day, many millions of people have come to this place of pilgrimage from all over the world. Furthermore, the small place Medjugorje represents a movement of peace. Many people say that they have experienced there the gift of peace in their hearts and they are ready to pass it on to others in their proximity: in their marriage and their family, in their neighbourhood, in their circle of friends, their community and their working place. They are motivated by their own experience of reconciliation and peace and of course by the name which Virgin Mary “Gospa” used to introduce Herself to the visionaries: I am the Queen of Peace.
Third, Medjugorje can also be called a movement of renewal, which permanently revive the spiritual life people. There is a great number of people who claim that they have had deep spiritual experiences like physical and spiritual healings, conversions, resuming of prayer and faith, impulses for fasting or liberation from addictions. One sign of these renewals, which is more than obvious, is the fact that people started to build prayer groups. There are numerous groups which were buildet by the pilgrims in their communities after their return from Medjugorje. It is a place where they meet, usually once or twice a week, for prayer and adoration, to pray the rosary, to read or to discuss the gospel and Christian life. And the fourth and last aspect: Medjugorje has become the symbol for a movement of humanitarian aid, which is unique. This became especially obvious when the Balkan war began and when it extended into Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was unbelievable, but millions of pilgrims, who had received spiritual gifts in Medjugorje, started now showing their gratitude by helping materially.They sent food, clothes, medicines and other goods, they helped with money and by sponsoring orphans and war victims. This executive summary shows what is meant when someone talks about Medjugorje as being a movement. It should also be mentioned that this movement has been filled with the messages, which the Virgin Mary has given to Marija Pavlovic from March 1, 1984 to January 8, 1987, every week, and since then on the 25th of each month. Of course the messages, which are given to the other visionaries are also a part of this. These messages of Medjugorje consist usually only of a few sentences and are initiations to make the five original basic messages more concrete: faith, conversion, prayer, fasting, and of course peace.

Have you ever stoped for a moment and listened to the rhythm of life that flows within us and realized this rhythm especially by the beating of the heart?
If you do it, you we will realize that it is slow, calm and harmonious; unless we have forced it to be fast by a lifestyle which makes us rush.
Medjugorje is a place, where you can calm down and spend your time harmonious.

For those who are not “forced” to live the anxiety of the “developed world”, who are caught up in a mechanism of production that threatens them not to stop and for those who wake up with the mind already crowded with things to do, and go to sleep with the worry of having “done it all” : we have one
suggestion: STOP! Stop and start asking yourself: “Have I done well the things that matter the most? Did I do them in a way that has enabled me to remain at peace?” We are often running to guarantee our serenity and calmness, but what we really get then is only an artificially construction of it. However, this blinds us, so we often miss the chance to really enoy life and all it offers.
Unfortunately we have the habit of carrying out all duties mechanically, but this is often leaving us unsatisfied as if we have concluded only very little. Particularly then, we need to to stop and take time to see if and how we need to change.
One way of helping us to change is to observe people who lived at Mary`s time. Of course, these times weren’t like ours. Palestine 2000 years ago was not beset with the speedometers of cars or motorbikes; the only noise on the roads at this time was the sound of hooves. So the point ist not to confront our lives with hers; we think it may be good to look at how she lived.
The Blessed Virgin, who appeared in 1981 in Medjugorje, also have been in haste, but only in few situations, like when she went in haste to the house of Elizabeth to tell her about the pregnancy or when she went with haste to a city of Judah, but once there she continued to carry out her daily tasks immersed in the God she was bearing.
So everything she has done in haste, have been very important and infrequent situations.
It is important to know that we give the best of ourselves and think about what we are doing and how we are possible to do it. Even when we are doing banal things such as going up and down stairs, we will see, with marvel, how so many things are created with perfection and harmony, such as our own body, or even the beauty of human inventions. Take, for example, the wind mill.
Praise God for man’s genius, which can turn even basic objects into useful things for our purpose and comfort: blankets, for example, to protect us as we sleep or when it is just cold, or running water, amazing! Stop sometimes and think about all the things you can do and which you have and a constant
feeling of gratitude that dilates the heart, and quietens our breathing will be born. And this will give us peace.
And don’t become desperate if you can`t manage to do everything we were supposed to do! There is a trick: entrust everything to God at the beginning of the day and he will help to comprehend the essential. The Holy Spirit will help us to see what is urgent and what is useless. He will give us the wisdom to face everything and strength to fulfil it all. Then we will be able to stop being so nervous and in our hearts instead of anxiety there will be joy.
There is also a place, where most of the people feel this peace and joy: Medjugorje!Calm down