June 25 will mark four decades since the first Marian apparition in Medjugorje. What's that Meaning?

The apparitions in Medjugorje began in 1981 when a group of young people from the small country of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed that they had seen Our Lady. Some of them, after thirty years, claim to still have one revelation a day.

The completely new character of these apparitions lies in the fact that the vision is not tied to a certain place, but takes place wherever the visionaries are at any given moment.

Before June 24, 1981, Medjugorje was just a tiny farming village lost in a harsh and desolate corner of the former Yugoslavia. Since then, everything has changed, and the village has become one of the most important centers of the Christian religion.

What happened in Medjugorie in 1981?

What happened on June 24, 1981 in Medjugorie? For the first time (the first of a long series that is still going on) Our Lady appeared to a group of locals childrento bring the message of peace and conversion to the world through prayer and post.

Apparitions in Medjugorie, day one

Late in the afternoon on Wednesday, June 24, 1981, the feast of St. John the Baptist, six children between the ages of 12 and 20 were walking on Mount Crnica (today known as Apparition Hill) and at a rocky spot called Podbrdo they noticed in the sky the fleeting figure of a beautiful and luminous young woman with a child in her arms.

The six young people are Ivanka Ivanković (age 15), Mirjana Dragićević (age 16), Vicka Ivanković (age 16), Ivan Dragićević (age 16), and Ivan Ivan Ivanković (age 20) and Milka Pavlović (age 12). They immediately understand that the figure is the Mother of God, although the apparition figure does not say anything to them, but only gives a sign to approach her.

The children are very frightened and run away. At home they tell their parents what happened, but the adults, frightened of the possible consequences (let's not forget that the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was officially atheist), tell them to keep quiet.

Apparitions in Medjugorie, day two

However, the news about the apparition is so loud that it quickly spreads through the village and the next day, June 25th, a group of curious people gathers in the same place at the same time in hope of a new apparition which, however, does not come very soon. Among them are the children from the previous day, with the exception of Ivan Ivanković and Milka, who will no longer see the Madonna, even though they were present at the subsequent apparitions.

Marija Pavlović (16 years old), the eldest sister of Milka, and 10 years old Jakov Čolo are there to see the Madonna together with the other four: this time she appears on a cloud and without a child, as beautiful and bright as the day before. The group of six chosen by the Blessed Virgin is formed at this moment and that is why the anniversary of the apparitions is celebrated precisely on June 25th every year, according to the explicit decision of Mary herself. This time, at the sign of the Mother, all six young visionaries quickly ran to the top of the mountain. Despite the fact that the trail was not marked, they did not even suffer a scratch, and recently they tell that they felt "transported" by a mysterious force.

Our Lady appears smiling, dressed in a sparkling silver-grey gown, with a white veil covering her black hair; she has beautiful blue eyes and is crowned with 12 stars. Her voice is sweet "like music." She exchanges a few words with the young, prays with them and promises to return.

What happened in Medjugorie

Mary continues to appear to visionaries to this day with varying frequency. The Gospa appears to the visionaries wherever they are at the moment. She calls the whole world to prayer and conversion, and gives numerous messages in which she encourages the deepening of the life of faith and the sacramental life, the reading of Scripture, and all pious practice, penance and dedication of one's life to Jesus. He communicates to the seers mysteries concerning the future destiny of the Church and the world.

Church The Catholic Church, in its official position on the events of Medjugorie (Statement of the Episcopal Conference of the former Yugoslavia from Zadar in 1991), withholds final judgment on the apparitions for the time being - so far it neither recognizes them as true nor rejects them as false. A special commission appointed by the Church is investigating the matter.

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