The Best of "The Spirit of Medjugorje"

     Medjugorje is a small mountain village in the region of Bosnia, Herzegovina, the former Yugoslavia. This true story takes place in the Bijakovici section of Medjugorje.

     On the afternoon of June 24, 1981, at approximately six o’clock in the evening, on the area of Crnica Hill known as Podbrdo, two young girls, Ivanka Ivankovic, age 15, and Mirjana Dragicevic, age 16, were returning home from a walk when they saw an incredibly beautiful woman. She didn’t say anything to them but indicated with gestures to come closer. They were afraid to come near, even though they immediately thought Her to be Our Lady.

     The next day, June 25, the two girls returned to the hill with four others – Vicka Ivankovic, age 16, Ivan Dragicevic, age 16, Maria Pavlovic, age 16, and Jakov Colo, age 10. A figure in white was calling them to come up the hill. The children were somehow transported in some mysterious way to a beautiful Lady who called Herself the “Queen of Peace.” On the third day, She told the children that She was the Blessed Virgin Mary. On the fourth day, She appeared three times to the children. For priests, She gave this message: “May the priests firmly believe and may they take care of the faith of the people!” She told the children, “Do not be afraid of anything.”

     In a talk given on September 12, 1998, Mirjana recounted the first days: 

     And that day, June 24, 1981, I went out for a walk with Ivanka. It was the Feast of St. John the Baptist, and so that day no one was working. The two of us went for a walk below the hill that is now called the Hill of Apparitions, and we talked about ordinary things, the kinds of things young girls talk about. And in one moment Ivanka said to me, “I think Our Lady is on the hill.” She said that very matter-of-factly. I said, “Well, She has nothing better to do than come to the two of us.” Because I thought that was [an] impossible thing. And I returned home and left Ivanka there. And when I came to the first houses of the village, I felt a need to return to the place. I needed to see what she was doing. And when I returned, I saw Ivanka in the same place. And she said to me, “Look, please, I am begging you.” And I looked and I saw a woman with a long gray dress and She was holding a child in Her arms. It was very strange because on that hill nobody ever went up there, especially with a child in their arms. The two of us just stared because all of our emotions were all confused within us. And in that moment, Ivan, one of the other visionaries, came also because that was the way he would normally walk to get to his home. I remember it like it was today. He was carrying apples in his arms and when he saw what the two of us were looking at, like every brave man, he dropped everything and ran. And then I said to Ivanka, “Who knows what this is; maybe it is better we leave also.”

     We returned home right away, and we told everyone that we have seen Our Lady but nobody believed us. My grandmother said, “Take a rosary and pray and leave Our Lady alone.” I had the desire within me to be alone to pray. And so that entire night we spent in prayer, so that God could help us understand what was happening to us. And the next day Jakov and Marija were the only ones who said, “How lucky you are, we wish we could have seen Our Lady also.”

     And the next day we all found ourselves at the Hill of Apparitions without having called one another there. And with us came our parents or our uncles. I could say to you that it was probably the entire village gathered there because everyone wanted to see what was happening to the children. And we saw Our Lady in the same place, but this time She didn’t have a child in Her arms. And that second day, June 25, 1981, is the first time we went to Our Lady, and that day many people from the village saw many

signs from Our Lady, so they believed us because without them we could not have endured some of the stuff we endured later. I think that might have been Our Lady’s plan, to help them understand that it was true. And in the former Yugoslavia it was not easy to be a believer but especially not easy to be a visionary.

     After a few days, the army immediately encircled the hill, and they said if anyone would go up on the hill, they would go to jail immediately. And so, we had to have the apparitions in secret places, and many of the people in our village helped with this. And so, I think it was Our Lady who truly helped them to understand and believe we were speaking the truth because we needed their help. My parents at that time were in Sarajevo. My aunt felt a responsibility, and she called my parents. My aunt said, “Something is happening to her.” And my mother got very scared and she said, “Well, what is it?” And my aunt said, “Well, she is saying she is seeing Our Lady.” And my mother asked, “Is she normal?” And my aunt said,“Well, she looks the same as she looked before.” And then my mom said, “Well, then she is speaking the truth.” 

     According to the visionaries, the Lady, known in Croatian as Gospa, has been giving messages to the seers and to the world ever since that day. To date She has given thousands of messages. At first the messages were almost daily, later they were just on Thursdays. In January of 1987, Our Lady told the seers She would begin to give messages to the world on a monthly basis, on the 25^th of each month. Though there are thousands of messages, there are 5 primary ones. The basic messages consist of peace, prayer, conversion, fasting, and faith.