Amidst the ringing of church bells, lovely potted white lilies adorning main altars and the hugs and kisses of family, relations and friends today, my memory trails back to my visit to Medjugore in 1997. Why? Because I associate an unforgettable experience there with Easter.
Having read and heard so much about the apparition of our Blessed Mother in Medjugore, Gloria Reyes (may she rest in peace), a former co-teacher and I went on a pilgrimage there. At that time, 1997, a war was waging in Yugoslavia among the different states that comprised the country. Croatia was a principal protagonist in the dispute. The strong-willed woman that I was and still am, I went on with the trip with someone whose temperament matched mine. I guess the similarity of our attitude towards life made our friendshhip last for so long. True to newspaper reports, we could hear distant war sounds of boom-boom-boom from all sorts of weapons even as we landed in the airport. I was unnerved. I felt secure in the thought that our Lord and Blessed Mother will always take care of us.
Medjugorje is a village surrounded by mountains and hills. A huge white cross stands majestic on top of a mountain. I learned that the Cross was placed there through the painstaking work fo villagers way back in the 1930's. They did not know then that what they did would play an important role in the relatively recent apparitions of the Blessed Virgin to some youth.
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