In a recent talk given by the Medjugorje visionary Ivan Dragicevic, he gave this recollection of the first time Our Lady appeared in Medjugorje almost 29 years ago.It was June 24, 1981; it was a Wednesday, Saint John the Baptist Feast day. That morning, just like any other holiday, our parents would let us sleep longer than usual, but not that long to miss Holy Mass. I can still remember, as a child, I always liked to sleep longer. But that morning, my parents came to my bedroom five or six times telling me that I had to get up, that I had to get ready, that we were already late for Mass. You know how parents are; it’s not that I had any choice. I got up. I woke my two younger brothers up and we went to the church with our parents. We went to the 11 o’clock Mass that morning. I remember, I was there with my body but I’m not that sure that I was there with my heart and mind. I could not wait for the Mass to end. When I came home, my mother always used to do this thing, she would ask me, “Ivan, who’s Gospel was said at the Mass today?” Since I wasn’t there mentally, of course I had no idea.
We sat at the table together and had lunch. Before we had even finished eating, some of my friends came from the village. They asked me to go and play soccer with them. That is what we used to do on Sundays or holidays. It was around 3 o’clock in the afternoon when we went to play soccer together. We went to a field that was close to my house and we played until 5 o’clock. When we all got tired, we started walking toward our homes. As we were walking, we met three girls. They were Ivanka, Mirjana and Vicka. One of them I knew well; that was Vicka. We went to the same school. But the other two girls I did not know that well because they did not live in Medjugorje at the time. Mariana lived in Sarajevo. Ivanka lived
Some of my friends asked them where they were going and what they were doing. They said they went for a walk and to look for their parent’s sheep. I remained silent since I was so shy at the time. I did not talk to girls. When my friends ended that conversation, we continued walking toward our homes. Many of my friends went directly to the village, but since my house was a little bit further away from it a friend of mine came with me. I wanted to change my clothes and we were planning to go back to the village to his house to watch a basketball game on TV. In those days, the early 1980’s, there were probably five or six families in the village that had a TV set in their homes. A color TV was considered a luxury at the time.
We came to his place and we watched the first half of the basketball game. When it ended, I asked my friend to come to my house with me so that I could grab something to eat. The plan was to go back to his house to watch the second half of the game. I came home. I ate and then we started back toward his house. We were going to watch the second half of the basketball game. However, we never got there. To this day we haven’t seen the second half of the game. We don’t even know what the score was. Something else happened instead.
As we were walking, we heard a voice. Someone was calling us, “Ivan, Ivan, Ivan come to see Our Lady. She is on the hill. I didn’t see anyone in front of me. I didn’t see anyone behind me. The road was very narrow. There were a lot of trees and bushes around. Since I couldn’t see anyone, I simply continued walking. As we continued to walk further and further we were able to hear that voice louder and louder. In one moment, I turned around and I saw one of those three girls, Vicka. She was running toward the two of us, barefoot, shaking with fear. She kept calling us, “Come with me, come with me, Our Lady is on the hill.”
I was 16 years old at the time. I stopped and looked at her. I had no idea what she was talking about. I turned to my friend and asked him, “What is she talking about?” What lady? Don’t pay any attention to her. She must be crazy. But then we realised that something odd was happening to her. We realized that something peculiar was happening to her. So I told my friend to come with her. We were walking with her and looking how she was behaving. Suddenly, we did not feel comfortable at all. We started to feel fear too.
When we came to that spot, we saw the other two girls, Ivanka and Mirjana. They were kneeling on their knees, crying. They were looking toward the hill and staring at something. When we were approaching, one of the girls, Vicka, turned toward the hill and showed me her hand saying, “Take a look up there.” I looked three times and I saw the beautiful image of Our Lady. I think I looked at her no more than five seconds. When I saw her, I ran all the way home. I was running so fast, I’m sure no one would have been able to catch me. When I came home, I didn’t say anything to anyone, not even to my parents. I closed my bedroom door.
That night was filled with fear, filled with so many questions; Is that possible?, How could that be?, Was it really Our Lady? I did see her but still was not sure. Believe me, when I was 16 years old I could never dream that something like that could happen, that Our Lady could actually appear. My parents never told me about apparitions. I never read about them. I didn’t know anything about Fatima or Lourdes. I didn’t even feel any special devotion to Our Lady. I was a practicing Catholic. I went to Church. I prayed with my parents. I grew in faith. I was raised in faith. I was no better, no worse than others my age. But as I said before, that night was filled with fear. That was a night filled with expectations. What was, thinking, “What if Our Lady comes to my bedroom, where would I hide, where would I run away?” I could not wait for that night to end. It seemed like a year long to me.
When morning finally came, my parents had already heard from the village that I was there as well. They were camping behind my bedroom door. You know how parents are, especially in those times. In the early 1980’s, during a time of communist regime, people were not allowed to talk about apparitions. Our parents were so worried. They told us to be careful about what we were talking about and not to take those things so lightly. They told us we would go to jail. But we said to our parents what we had seen and we had said to them, “Yes, we did see her but we still are not sure.
On that second day, a lot of people stated to gather from all around. We spent that day with them. Those people protected us from the government and the police. Around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, all those people that spent the day with us, told us, “Why don’t we go to that hill together? Maybe Our Lady left something there, a sign, so that we could all know that she was there.” Spontaneously, together with all those people, we started walking toward the hill. Before we even got to that spot, roughly 20 metres before, Our Lady was already there waiting for us. She was holding Baby Jesus in her arms. She was floating on a cloud. She smiled and waved with her hand to come closer. That was a glorious moment that I will never, ever forget. That day is still with me.
At that moment, I could not move, not forward, not backward. My legs did not function. But then suddenly and not with my power, we went across those rocks and bushes feeling no pain whatsoever. We were kneeling and we came closer to her. When we were right in front of her, we were overwhelmed. I cannot describe that excitement to you. She was holding Baby Jesus in her arms, and with her right hand – she put her right hand on our heads and spoke her first words. “My dear children, I am with you. I am your Mother. Be not afraid of anything. I will protect you. I will help you. I will guide you.”
It was impossible for us to calm down, all those emotions. But then one of the girls who seemed to be the most relaxed of us all, Vicka, asked her who she was and what her name was. She replied, “I am the Queen of Peace. I am coming my dear children, because my Son has sent me to help you.” Then she said, “Peace, peace, only peace. Let there be peace. Let peace reign the world. My dear children, peace has to reign between man and God and among people. Dear children, this world and this mankind are in grave danger. They threaten to destroy themselves.”
Those were the first words and the first messages that Our Lady gave the world through us.
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source: Medjugorje Online
Mother Maria is a song dedicated to Our Lady, composed and sung by Mary Teresa Doogan. The track is from the CD Here is Love by Family Doogan & Friends.
