Medjugorje Day 5: Father Slavko: The Man Behind the Spirit Here

We climbed Apparition Hill early this morning, praying a Rosary led by the visionary, Ivan, on the way up. It was raining lightly, so the rocks were slippery, but we took our time and helped one another. When we made it to the place where Our Lady first appeared, Ivan shared with us some of Blessed Mother’s most important messages.

She’s spoken a lot, over the years, about the importance of prayer in the family - more specifically, prayer as a family. And she always connects prayer with peace, saying that peace comes only from prayer.

Having listened to Ivan today, it seems that Our Lady is very concerned with the breakdown of the family in general, and how that breakdown harms the world by depriving it of the only thing that makes for peace, namely, family prayer.

It’s bitter sweet, listening to Ivan about Our Lady. On the one hand, Mary makes it clear that she loves us very much, and that God is trustworthy, and that if we pray we have no need to fear. But on the other hand, she expresses grave motherly concern for our distracted, materialistic age.

After returning to the hotel for breakfast, we then made our way to a special place called Mother’s Village. It is an orphanage that was founded by Father Slavko Barbaric, the priest who served the longest period of time as pastor of Saint James in Medjugorje - 18 years - before dying atop Cross Mountain, just after praying the 13th Station.

We celebrated Mass at the orphanage, after listening to the story of how it was came to be through the inspiration and dedication of Father Slavko. His brown Franciscan habit (seen above) hangs in the chapel where we celebrated Mass. He was wearing it when he died in the year 2000.

Everyone in parish of Saint James here wishes Father Slavko could have lived many more years, but - and this is interesting - Father Slavko is the only person, besides Saint Joseph, to be mentioned by name by Our Lady in her apparitions. On November 25th, in the year 2000, she said to the visionaries, “I rejoice with you and I desire to tell you that your brother Slavko has been born into Heaven and intercedes for you.”

After celebrating Mass in that holy place, we returned to the hotel for lunch and then some free time before making our way to the church for the Rosary and Adoration, both of which follow a format that has been very much influenced by Father Slavko.

Father Slavko is buried on the grounds of Saint James, in the parish cemetery behind the church. He asked to be buried there, because he gave his heart entirely to the service of this parish, the visionaries in particular, and to the many pilgrims - including myself - who would come to love him and to think of him as the spiritual father of Medjugorje.

When I was here in 2002, I learned about the personal influence that he had on the style of music that has come to be associated with Medjugorje - the very simple “taize-style” refrains, accompanied by the acoustic guitar and violin. When I returned again in 2003, I visited his grave and entrusted the spiritual care of my own personal music ministry to him.

Informal as it was then, and is now, I did have the sense, even as a seminarian, that The Lord would always be asking me to play guitar and sing with others as a way of leading them to Him. Every time I visit Father Slavko’s grave, I renew that consecration.

Lastly, I’m happy to say that not only are the women pilgrims enjoying their time here in Medjugorje, but the men as well. We’ve got a lot of guys on the trip. And I said to them before coming here that “Medjugorje is masculine.” I said, “Guys like Medjugorje.”

And you know, it’s really true. There’s something about this place that lends itself not only to the sensibilities of women, but also of men. More so than any other place of pilgrimage that I’ve been (with the exception, perhaps, of the Holy Land), Medjugorje has a way of touching the hearts of men.

Nor do I don’t think it’s just the beer, although the food and drink are great here. It’s the amount of priests you see here, and the Franciscans themselves- they’re all strong men, sensitive but stern, almost severe in their tone of voice. They’re manly.

And there are also always a lot of guys here - lots of husbands, but also young men who are growing in the Faith. Guys like the music here, and the general feel of the place. It’s really amazing to see - this place offers men graces to speak about their faith and their love for God in a way, again, unlike anything I’ve seen.

So, here’s the reflection we shared in prayer today. I’ll post it here. And then I’m going to bed. We’re all wiped after another long day. But somehow we all get up on time and are together and ready for everything.

Tomorrow, we’re going to celebrate Mass at the Shrine of Divine Mercy here that is home to the image before which took place one of the miracles that were attributed Saint Faustina’s cause for canonization. I’ll tell you more about that tomorrow night. +