On September 23 (Padre Pio's Feast Day) Medjugorje visionaries Ivan and Marija will be in Cardinal Schonborn's Cathedral, St. Stephens in Vienna. The apparitions will be experienced by Ivan Dragicevic and Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti, seers who claim they have seen Our Lady, the Blessed Mother of Jesus since 1981.
The visions are to take place at 12:40 EDT on September 23 2010. Some believe the Blessed Mother is using the Internet to allow the whole world to be present at her apparition (see "IN A WHOLE NEW WAY THE GOSPA IS STARTING TO USE TECHNOLOGY TO BRING HER BLESSING TO THE WORLD!" at www.marytv.tv). A group called Mary TV insist that religious objects will be blessed during the apparition along with those placed near her in St. Stephen's Cathedral! Mary TV says " Her blessing over the people present there will extend the same to you (those on watching on the internet) - as if you were kneeling right next to Ivan or Marija!"
Controversy arose earlier this year after Cardinal Schonborn visited Medjugorje . Some had expected Cardinal Schönborn’s visit to Medjugorje to be private, he has instead surprised the town by being very visible. He has spent his time concelebrating Mass at St. James Church, climbing Apparition Hill with visionary Marija Lunetti, hearing confessions, praying in silence at Adoration, and, perhaps most notably, giving his talk today in the parish church with the Franciscan friars at his side.
He went on to say “When you look at a place like Medjugorje, you can see a superpower of mercy. Many merciful deeds were born here or they were supported here.”
During one poignant moment of his talk, Cardinal Schonborn urged the crowd to stand and join him in singing the well-known Medjugorje song Gospa Majka Moja. He smiled warmly as he sang along.
Delving further into the topic of mercy, Cardinal Schönborn said, “What a deep feeling of compassion there is in Jesus. Many deeds of mercy in the Church were born exactly in this way, like Mother Teresa, who couldn’t accept people dying in the street. Or Mother Elvira, here in Medjugorje, the founder of Cenacalo Community rehab center: she couldn’t stand to see young people on drugs, destroying their lives with drugs. What is this deep, profound emotion that we call compassion?”
While concluding his talk in Medjugorje, Cardinal Schönborn said, “I believe that many experiences in the Church demonstrate something that is impossible from a human point of view.
Ivan Shares with Mary TV the Day that Changed His Life, and is Changing the World
Isn't it amazing that Our Lady is with us! She is here at this time in history for a specific reason. She is with us to shield us from Satan and to bring us peace. She is with us as our Mother and Queen of Peace.
This summer Mary TV went to Medjugorje to film. We were blessed to stay with the visionary, Ivan. He graciously took us for walks around his neighborhood, describing the first days of the apparitions in detail. It was wonderful to be standing in the very spots where the children first saw Our Lady in 1981. Ivan shared so simply and clearly, exactly what it was like on that first day, June 24.
I want to share a transcript of his remarks, given at 6:00 am on August 3, 2010. Ivan shares the complete surprise he felt at seeing Our Lady on Podbrdo:
"Today we will do the 1st part about the beginning of the apparitions. I will start by sharing about the first two days and how the apparitions started. We will walk the same path that we walked those first days
"It was 1981 and I was 16 years old. I live over in that house with my parents. When I was a child of 16 I was very shy. I did not communicate very much and I was very connected to my parents.
"This area was under the communist regime. There was no freedom of speech or freedom to practice religion. Life was very hard. We worked every day in the tobacco fields and the vineyard. I was the oldest son. We got up very early, even earlier than you got up today - between 4 and 5 a.m. to go work in the fields. I would work and help my parents every day. All of this was done to be able to educate me. It was hard labor every day! I would ask my parents, is there a feast coming soon? I waited for a feast day so that I could rest and play soccer with my friends.
"A feast day arrived, the feast of St. John the Baptist on June 24th, 1981. This day we could sleep longer, but not too long. We could not miss Mass. I slept in that room over there (he pointed to the window of his room on the second floor in the corner of the building). My mother came to our room and woke us and told us to hurry so that we would not be late for Mass. It took 5- 6 times for her to get me up. I got up, quickly dressed and we left to walk through the fields as a family to Mass. There was no time for much thinking. I was at Mass with my body but I am not sure that I was there with my heart and soul. As soon as we returned home my mother asked me what the Gospel was about. I did not know because my heart was not there. I just wanted Mass to be done.
"Next we had lunch and after we ate my friends called out for me to go and play soccer. I went with them. We walked to a meadow where we played soccer. This road you see today was not here before. It did not exist. There was a narrow path with bushes. The path was only wide enough for a sheep to walk. My family had about 50 sheep, 2 cows and a horse.
(We moved now from his original home further up the road.)
We will walk now. In 1981 there were only 2 houses here, my parent's home and one house across the street. That house across the street is very different now. There were no other homes. All the rest were bushes. See this garden here. (We had walked a little ways down the street.) We had 2 green apple trees in this garden. They were green apples and they were very bitter. Remember this place for later.
(We walked to the top of the street by the stop sign and stopped.Looking to the left and down that street a little)
"Ivan pointed and said, down there by that sign, two of us were standing and we heard Vicka calling us. I and my friend came up here. There was a meadow where these two houses are now. This is where my friend whose name is also Ivan and I would play soccer here on Sunday and Feast days. It was Jakov's mom's property. We played soccer from about 3 to around 5 p.m. When we got tired and started to walk back to our house. We reached about this point in the road; it was very narrow and not paved. On this road we met Ivanka, Mirjana, and Vicka. We asked where the three girls were going. They said they were going for a walk to look for their parent's sheep. I did not talk much to the girls. I did not know Ivanka, who was from Mostar or Mirjana, who was from Sarajevo. They were only here visiting their grandparents for the summer.
"After our conversation with the girls, they went toward the hill and I went back toward my house with my friend Ivan who was from the village. I asked my friend to come to my house so I could change my clothes. There was a basketball match on the television. We did not have a TV so we would gather at another family's home to watch the basketball game on their black and white TV. After we watched the first half of the game I told my friend, 'Come to my house, I want to eat something.' We ate and then we were going back to his house. As we were walking on the way to his house, we stopped at the garden to pick apples from the garden I pointed out to you and walked on some more.
"Then we heard a female voice calling us. 'Ivan, Ivan, Ivan. Come with us. See Our Lady. She is on the mountain.' We walked on but did not see anyone. We got down near that sign and then turned back because the voice was so close and the road was narrow. We saw Vicka and she was shaking from fear. She said, 'Come see Our Lady on the hill.' I started laughing. I turned to my friend and said, 'What is she talking about? She is crazy.' We were late for the second half of the basketball game. We wanted to go on but she was so persistent. 'Come with me. Come!' I said 'Let's go. That is NOT the Vicka I know. Something definitely strange is going on.' We went on walking with her. She was shaking and so very excited. By now we were scared too. When we came close to this area about 15' we saw the other two girls turned toward the hill crying. Walking with Vicka to them we saw Ivanka and Mirjana turned toward the hill watching something.
"Vicka turned and said look up there. I looked three times and saw the beautiful image of Our Lady. She was normal size. I looked not more than 5 seconds. Then I ran to my house through the bushes faster than I had ever run before. I talked to no one. I closed myself in my room. All night there were so many questions in my mind. Is that possible? Was it really Our Lady? It was such a night of fear. I could not even dream of this happening. I had never heard of anything like this. I was a practical believer, raised in the faith but I had no real devotion to Mary and I was not better or worse than others. I was not anything special. I was afraid most of the night. All I could think is 'What if Our Lady comes to my room? How can I escape?' It was a very, very long night and morning never seemed to come.
"My parents heard in the village that I was there with the others. In the morning they were waiting outside my room. They were scared of what would happen. This was a time of Communism. We were not allowed to talk about it. My parents told me not to play with this sort of thing. I told my parents what we saw." (Ivan sharing the first day of the apparitions outside his home in Medjugorje, August 3, 2010)
Normal young people on a Feast Day in summer! An event that is changing the world!
In Jesus and Mary!
Cathy Nolan
PS. Thanks to Mary Matasso and Cathy Fedor for transcribing this sharing!
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