Medjugorje Day 3: The Holy Name of Mary

Today was another grace-filled day. I, myself, am returning just now from joining Ivan - and what seemed to be about 90 other priests - in his chapel during the 5:40 apparition of Our Lady. Our tour guide, Ivanka, is friendly with him and asked me if I would like to join them. Of course I was happy to have been invited.

After the apparition, Ivan said that Our Lady turned her gaze over all of the priests present, extending her hands toward [us] for a time, before giving [us] her motherly blessing and praying for vocations to the priesthood.

Ivan also added that Our Lady has been praying most intently for peace. She did so again this evening. She continues to pray for peace in the world, teaching us that peace comes only through prayer.

In the morning, we attended the 10AM Mass in English and were moved by the amount of pilgrims packed into the church to sing God’s praises and to respond with zeal and joy to the Eucharistic love of Jesus.

The group is waiting for me now over at the church. Outdoor Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will begin in 20 minutes. But I wanted to share with you here that this has been another wonderful day.

After the morning Mass, Ivanka, our tour guide, shared the story of the history of the region that led up to the first apparitions in 1981, which is truly fascinating. It would be impossible to offer a sufficient word for it here, but three things may help to get some appreciation for this place. That is, Our Lady seems to have chosen Medjugorje [1] because of this small town’s resistance to Communism over the years at no small cost, [2] because of the holiness of the Franciscan priests who have longed served the parish, and [3] because of the deep faith of this people.

Here’s a short reflection that we used to prepare our hearts for Mass this morning. I hope you will benefit from it as well:

The name of Mary, which we honor today, truly is holy, because her whole life gives glory to God. She is, as we said last time, a reflection of His life in this world.

And we can be too. That’s why she invites us to learn from her - to learn how to pray and to love. Mary gives birth to Jesus in the world, even now. +