A Pilgrim’s progress in Medjugorje
It’s 5.40pm in mid-October in Medjugorje and everyone and everything stops for Our Lady (although check your times as I’m told it’s 6.40pm in the summer).
There’s a fast-praying, gesticulating Italian priest wearing an open-necked dog collar, it’s a balmy late afternoon.
Then there’s Fr Leon, the wise-cracking chaplain to the English-speaking community, and the Irish Franciscan brother and pastor to the young, Brother Columba, who thankfully isn’t standing too close to the candles.
He admits he once burnt his beard at a procession.
We’re all marking the moment 38 years ago in 1981 when Our Lady appeared on a cloud to six children from the village.
She can’t be much of a fan of teatime television then.
It was certainly a half-time break back in 1981 in the Yugoslavian basketball game which helped draw the two boys outside.
Ivan Visionary (our guide Daniella’s nomenclature for him) will join us later in the week at the Blue Cross where Mary first appeared.
I know I’m unlikely to see Our Lady or hear her but Ivan Visionary has been on speaking terms with the Mother of God for 40 years, so you never know.
Medjugorje has expanded a millionfold since 1981.
It started as a two-towered church with some tobacco fields and vines, and is now a vast Marian resort dedicated to the worship of Her and Him.
And as with everywhere, there’s commercialism.
Our Lady is in every shop, as are her beloved rosary beads.
But Our Lady is also here in the minds, the souls and the hearts of the pilgrims, of which I am one.
A mother and daughter in our 20-strong Marian Pilgrimages (www.marianpilgrimages.com) group ask expectantly if I smelled the roses, Mary’s flower, as I make my way back from 10am Mass.
Try as I may, I can’t raise her.
But I do see Her in the eyes of eager Eddie who buries his head into his brother’s chest at the Blue Cross and shoots a smile towards me from his wheelchair by Our Lady’s statue at the 5.40pm remembrance.
A million flock to the Bosnia & Herzegovina village every year to feel the grace of Our Lady, to ask her to intercede on our behalf to Our Lord.
Many of them climb up to the Blue Cross, Apparition Hill and Cross Mountain.
They leave changed by their visit while many return year on year.
Marie from our group is back for her 60th pilgrimage and she’s a regular at Mileina, our boarding house for the week.
A steaming bowl of porridge sets us up for the morning.
For dinner where we settle down, after Grace Before Meals obviously, there are big plates of family food, hearty soups and meaty feasts, chicken, lamb chops, potatoes (we are Irish after all) and veg, with jugs of house wine.
Like Marie, Medjugorje drew Scottish pilgrims Magnus and Fergus MacFarlane-Barrow back time after time following that first visit.
They set up a support system for the village during the Balkan Wars in the mid-Eighties and then a charity for disadvantaged people, Mary’s Meals, which feeds 1,000,000 children around the world for a €15 donation which energizes them to then go to school.
It feels infectious, this Christianity in action.
Mother Elvira runs a rehab centre, Comunita Cenacolo, near the village while there is also an orphanage nearby.
We hear the testimony of Italian 20-something Andre, a dyslexic who suffered from Attention Deficit Disorder and whose life spiralled out of control, landing him on the street and in trouble with the law.
Rescued by Mother Elvira, Andre is now looking after maintenance in the house and serving the greater community, all of it underpinned by Christian observance, which is also the watchword for Medjugorje as a whole where your entire day is framed by Christian worship.
Mass in the morning is followed by a talk in the hall (we heard the extraordinary story of a priest who was an ISIS captive), walks in the hills with Stations of the Cross along the way, the 5.40pm pause, an International Mass and an Adoration of the Host. Phew!
For something different, you can take a coach to Sarajevo for just €16 return where you can visit the spot where Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and triggered the First World War.
It’s also worth checking out the Museum of Crimes against Humanity and Genocide which chronicles the 1,425-day Siege of Sarajevo in the 1980s.
At the heart of this beautiful city on the River Miljacka in the apron of the Dinaric Alps is the Old Town, the centrepiece of which is the Bey Mosque.
Turkish shops, cafes and restaurants fan out, showcasing authentic Bosnian food (I’d recommend the Bey’s chicken and vegetable soup, in the dainty adorned pots).
Back in Medge, The Irish Centre serves up more familiar fare from home at under a tenner and Herzegovina beer for €2.50.
And you’ll find an old new friend there, Columba, to watch the Ireland v New Zealand rugby match with us.
It’s always good to have your own Franciscan monk on hand to pray for a good result for Ireland.
Our Lady is obviously busy though elsewhere with someone more deserving up by the Blue Cross, Apparition Hill or Cross Mountain, asking us to pray more rosaries!
MORE INFORMATION:
The bus to Sarajevo from Medjugorje costs €16 return (bring your passport for money exchange).
Bey’s Mosque — a mosque in the city of Sarajevo, see begovadzamija.ba/
For more see www.visitsarajevo.ba/?lang=en
Jim went to Medjugorje with Marian Pilgrimages. Seven-night trips including flights from Dublin to Dubrovnik cost from approx. €585pp, departing May 15. For packages see www.marian.ie and www.medjugorje.org/.