I’m not really a picture-taker, but I will try to post some photos for you here after we arrive in Medjugorje tomorrow. We’re about mid-flight right now - flying Turkish Air into Istanbul, then taking a shorter flight to Dubrovnik, before a two-hour bus ride into Medjugorje.

We are a happy group of thirty-six pilgrims from the parish, but we're deeply mindful of the four others who had planned to be with us but were unable due to health problems. Although these were not able to be with us in person, they will be very much present in our hearts, as will all of you.

Here’s a photo taken not far from the hotel where we’ll be staying. The construction of this church was begun in 1969, and providentially named after Saint James, the patron saint of pilgrims. Ever since Our Lady first appeared here in 1981, pilgrims have been coming by the millions every year.

This will be the first time I, personally, will be staying in a proper hotel in Medjugorje. I’ve visited many times, but have always stayed in the home of Ivan, one of the six visionaries. I was first invited by Father Charles Mangano, back in 2001, to join him and a group of other young men like myself who were discerning a vocation to the priesthood. I entered the seminary that same year, and would return to Medjugorje many times again.

But this year will be different from the others, I’m sure, because this, as I said, is the first time that I’ll be staying in a hotel, and not with Ivan. It may seem an insignificant thing, but I mention it for a reason.

You see, Ivan claims still to be seeing Our Lady every day, even now. So pilgrims who stay with him are blessed to be present with him in his personal chapel as he kneels and speaks with the Blessed Mother every day.

It is as moving an experience as you might imagine. However, I’ve begun over the years to feel a little uncomfortable with the privilege, because there are always many “ordinary” pilgrims who gather around his house at the time of the apparition, but who can not come into the chapel, simply because there would not be enough space. In any case, this year I want for us simply to be pilgrims among those pilgrims.

It has also been my experience that staying with a visionary can sometimes split my reflections during the pilgrimage into two - one that is discerning Our Lady’s messages and seeking to draw nearer to Jesus, and one that is consumed with the question of whether Ivan is really seeing Our Lady.

So that’s why we’ll stay in a hotel by the parish church this year. Ivan is really a wonderful man, perhaps even holy. And if Facebook didn’t ruin the word, I might even call him a friend. But in truth, I’m just one of the many hundreds of pilgrims who have stayed with Ivan in recent years, so while I do feel a little badly about not staying with him, I’m sure that if he is able to understand my reasoning then he will.

I hope you (and this year’s pilgrims) will too. I am not among those who accuse the visionaries of preferring the life of celebrity to sainthood. Anyone who has met any of the visionaries will have had the sense of being in the presence of someone who prays with their heart - one whose prayer is constant and deep.

But I personally am looking forward to our moving about in the masses of society for the week - to lose ourselves in the unspectacular. I have the feeling that we’ll have an even better vantage point from which to see what is happening in Medjugorje, and to hear what Our Lady is saying. After all, God has done great things for our Blessed Mother, but she herself told us why in her Magnificat: He has looked with favor on her lowliness.

This year we’re going lowly, and I’m more excited than ever. +

Medjugorje Day 1: Going Lowly This Year

Medjugorje Day 2: Praying at Saint James

Not All Rage Burns