Lizzy

Today is March 18th, 2023. We went in a group over to Apparition Hill, and we prayed 20 decades of the Rosary, all four sets of mysteries. 

I noticed that during the fourth decade of the Luminous Mysteries, the last set of mysteries that we prayed, I felt a really strong inclination to kneel. I was on a very stony surface, but for some reason I looked down and I felt like I needed to kneel. 

I knelt down for the next two decades even though I wanted to stand up because it was hurting my feet, but I just really felt a strong urge to stay kneeling. 

Then I stood up and the Rosaries were over and the litanies were over. I walked back to the house for lunch, and there were a lot of people crowded in the area. I see a big group of people look up at the sky. 

When I looked up I saw some white birds really high up in the sky. They were very small. It was right above the house of Mirjana, the visionary who saw the apparition of Mary today. 

I feel at peace. Our Lord can do so many things and He’s so close to us and He loves us so much that Mary appearing here is surprising but it’s not surprising. It does give such a deep sense of peace and confidence in my faith. I’m so grateful to be here. It’s been a great experience. 

Seeing all the people here was not like I’m used to in Texas, growing up on a farm with a lot of land where we had a lot of space. It was a lot of people. 

At lunch someone mentioned, “I wonder what it would have been like in Jesus’ time with so many people crowding together.” That really hit home. The amount of people squished together here was probably similar to what it would have been like when people were going to hear Jesus preach and teach. It was definitely unusual, but bringing it back to those biblical times was interesting for me. 

Climbing Apparition Hill was really impactful for me. I actually had a spiritual moment there.

This hill is full of rocks, rocks of all different shapes and sizes. In order to make the next step, you have to look down at your next step. The only time when you can look ahead further is when both feet are on the ground. Sometimes you can look up, but before you take your next step, you have to look down or else you’re going to take a false step, twist your ankle, fall down. 

That came to me more spiritually in my own life. I like to look far into the future, but being on those rocky hills help set in for me that I need to take it one step at a time and trust that Our Lord and Our Lady are here with me each step of the way. 

I really want to take away from here not worrying about the future and trying not to be so self reliant and knowing that I have a Mother and Father who cares for me in my daily activities. 

I think that Mary is appearing on Earth and connecting that with the motherly care that a mother has for her children, I’m hoping I can take that away from here. Maybe that’s solidified just by the fact that She is appearing on Earth. That God is sending Her to us here gives me more comfort in knowing that I’m cared for in my day to day life. 

Being here, I’ve felt more inclined toward growing in private prayer. That’s where I really feel called. I think it’s through silence and private prayer that we are able to carry the message of Jesus in the way that we care for people.

Here in Medjugorje, I would say that you really see what we say in the Nicene Creed. We say that we believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. 

You see oneness in all of the different nationalities together in one church. You have many languages, maybe 15 different languages, in the same place. You also have different nationalities, Russian, Ukrainian, German, Dutch, Irish, Spanish, Chinese, Indian, from all different locations in the world together in one place. You see that physically in front of you. That’s something that you don’t see elsewhere.

We’re holy. There is so much prayer that I’ve seen here, people just walking down the street praying the Rosary all day every day. In the church, there’s usually never any room to pray there, even though it’s a big church. It’s full of people who want to get closer to God and want to spend a lot of time in prayer. That’s one way that you see the holiness visibly is through the prayer.

We’re catholic. Catholic is universal. Again, you see people from all different parts of the world together in one place. That’s something that we just don’t see in our world. There’s so much violence and war that’s happened in our history, but here you have people from all over coming together as the Catholic Church. It’s the visible Body of Christ. 

We’re apostolic. For that, I would say there are so many priests here. I think there are over 100 priests here. You really see the apostolic succession through the priests. A lot of priests desire to come here and are spiritually renewed especially through confession. 

The fact that She’s appearing here, it’s really beautiful, but there are so many beautiful things in our faith and in scripture. I think it’s okay to be skeptical. I don’t think we have to believe it. I don’t think faithful Catholics need to come here to grow in their spiritual life, but they can definitely use it as a tool to witness the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. That’s a really concrete way to see our faith, coming here with all these people from everywhere.

Try to take away the pillars that are from here, the Five Stones. If you’re Catholic, you can’t really argue with those. Reading scripture every day, receiving the Eucharist, going to confession, prayer, and fasting. 

This is a good place for people who are having doubts in their faith or who are looking for a renewal. I would say first to look into all the facts that have come up because there are a lot of studies about this place, even about the visionaries. Then when you come here, see if you can listen to one of the visionaries speak because for me that was extremely impactful to hear someone give a first person account of their experience. 

I think it’s really good for anyone who has some waning in their faith. It’s a good place for them to be strengthened in that virtue.