Volume I  of  "Best of the Spirit of Medjugorje" is NOW available as an e-book. Follow the link to purchase this wonderful book for just  $2.95.

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A Christmas Story

   The following story is a reprint from our December, 1996 issue. In December of 1982, 10 year-old Jelena Vasilj,  received the gift of inner locutions. She received the following vision before Christmas in the early days.

    A few days before Christmas, a movie, “Ben Hur,” was playing in Citluk. They said that Jesus was mentioned in it, how He was born, and how He suffered. The movie was starting at 7 P.M.  Marijana and myself were going to church every evening because Our Lady has asked this of us, and the vision was after Mass. Because of that, my dad was saying to me that I couldn’t see the movie.  I was sad for that reason.

   Then Our Lady said to me, “Don’t be sad. At Christmas I shall show you how Jesus was born.” (Those Christmas days an angel was appearing to me, as in the previous year.) This is how the vision went:  I see an angel. Then he disappears and I see darkness.  In that darkness I see St. Joseph. He holds a staff in his hands. At that place there was some grass and stones on the road and a few houses around.  Mary is on a mule.  She travels. It seems like She is crying, but She is not crying. She is sad. She said, “I would be glad if someone would take us in to spend this night, because I am tired.” Joseph said, “Here are the houses and we will ask.”  And they were knocking at doors. Mary was standing in front of the house. Joseph was knocking on the door. People were opening the door and when they saw Joseph and Mary, they closed them. They were sad traveling.  Joseph said, “There is an old house. No one sleeps in it for sure.” Inside there was one mule.  Joseph gathered some pieces of wood and they made a fire. He also put some hay in it, but the fire consumed it immediately. So Mary was more heated by the mule. Mary was crying and She was very sad. Joseph was feeding the fire. Suddenly I see Jesus in front of Mary. He smiles as if he were one year old. He is joyful and it seems as if He is speaking. He waves His hands. Joseph comes to Mary and Mary says, “Joseph, this day of joy has come, but it would be better to pray, because there are people who do not want Jesus to be born.” And they prayed.

   Suddenly I see a little house only. It was lit up a little bit. And then suddenly it became completely lit up as in day, and the stars were in the skies.  I see two angels above the stall. They hold a big banner and written on it was: “We glorify You, Lord!”  Above it there was a big choir of angels. They were singing and glorifying God. Then I see the shepherds. They were weary, tired and some were already sleeping.  Some were walking. The sheep and lambs were with them. One angel approached them and said, “Shepherds, hear the good news: God is born! You will find Him sleeping in a manger in the stall. Know that I am telling you the truth!” The stable was surrounded in the light. Suddenly a large choir of angels joined them and they were singing.

   Then a quarrel began among the shepherds. Some wanted to go to the stall and some didn’t. One group said, “Maybe it is true! Let us go and see what happened.” Some weren’t sure. “We will go, we will not go.” But then the shepherds began on their way and with them one who wasn’t sure. He said, “How can I leave my little lamb, because the wolves might come and eat him.  I can’t leave it!”   And he put it on his shoulders and they went.

    It was a long, long journey. Some kept changing their minds on their way saying, “This is a long journey, and maybe He is not born.”  Traveling that way, they suddenly see a little house illuminated with light as in the day.  There were no angels.  One shepherd exclaimed, “Yes, it is here, we found it!”  And they entered inside.  There was one light coming from Jesus. He extends His hands to them, smiles, looks at them. They give Jesus their lambs, putting them around the manger. They are joyful.

  Then Mary said to them, “Shepherds! I know that the good news has come to you that the Savior is born. It would be good if we prayed, because there are those in the world who do not allow Jesus to be born in the world.” They prayed for a long time. Mary looked as if She were crying.  But She was happy. (Once in the vision I felt that She forgives through crying.) Then the shepherds left and they were very joyful.  They were singing the songs of thanksgiving to God. I saw them returning to their flocks, and the angels were in the skies.

   Suddenly I see a big house. In front of it there was standing a large man and some kings. Like it was said in the Bible, they were carrying golden dishes. The three kings were asking the man, “Where might Jesus be born? Where might the new King of the world be born? We saw His star. It proclaimed to us that the new King of the world was born somewhere here in this land.” That man got scared and he thought, “How could a King of the world be born, when I’m the king here?” Therefore he called some people and told them to find out and see (probably in the books) where the King of the world is supposed to be born. Then these people went somewhere, and the man stayed with the kings. When they returned they said that the King is supposed to be born in the stall of Bethlehem. The prophet said, “You the land of Judah are by no means least among the cities.” It is written something like this in the song of Bethlehem.  Then the kings began on their way to Bethlehem. Suddenly, there appeared in front of them a big star.  That star led them. They were thinking to themselves without talking to each other.  Suddenly they caught sight of an illuminated light and they looked toward it, like the shepherds.  Then one king said, “For sure, He is there!”   Then they entered the stall. Mary said to them, “Your gifts are great, but it is necessary to pray for all those who do not allow Jesus to be born.” She said the same to them as to the

others, and they prayed for a long, long time. Jesus was smiling. He looked like He was praying with them.  He was filled with piety as they were praying.

       Update from Medjugorje

By Ana Shawl

   A Croatian priest, Fr. Grbes, gave everyone a little update at a Medjugorje Peace Conference in Irvine, CA in October.

He said that throughout these 30 years of apparitions in Medjugorje:

540,000 registered priests, Bishops, Cardinals, and religious visited Medjugorje.  (These are "registered" so as Father stated when he spoke, God only knows how many came that were unregistered.)

There were 27,000,000 Communions, and 532 proven and documented healings that are recorded at the parish.

520 men became priests directly related to a pilgrimage to Medjugorje, and 123 women became nuns directly related to a pilgrimage to Medjugorje.

   During the Youth Festival this year there were 525 priests there, and 450 for the evening prayer service and Mass.

   So, as you know, Medjugorje can't be approved until the apparitions cease, and nobody knows when that is exactly, but these fruits cannot be denied. With all of these outward signs, just think of the countless spiritual conversions that have taken place, and we are included in those conversions!

Secret History: The Fascinating Prophecies that Led up to a Famous Alleged Apparition

   It's impossible to know how the Vatican will rule on it (abiding, as we will, by any such ruling), but there certainly are aspects about the famous apparition site of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Hercegovina that continue to intensely intrigue.

   Previously, we have written about how the happenings there seemed to have been prophesied. This occurred a number of times. There was a famous Catholic charismatic priest, Emiliano Tardif, from Santo Domingo, who, in a "word of knowledge" at a conference, saw it coming. There was also a prediction, of sorts, from an Irish-American nun, Sister Briege McKenna. Those were immediately before the occurrences – in fact, earlier the very same year and month: June, 1981.

   Farther in the past, however, and with more detail, there was a villager named Mate Šego, born in 1901, died 1979, who, as we have reported, often spoke of a future time when, "My Gospa [Our Lady] will come – blessed are they who remain in prayer.”

   "I'm telling you this now!" he was quoted as prophesying. "I will not see any of this but you, children, will! There will be lots of buildings not like houses we have now – some of the buildings will be huge. Our folks will sell their land to foreigners who will build hotels. Medjugorje and the surrounding hills will be a holy place. There will be so many people on our Crnica you won't be able to sleep at night. They will come for my Gospa! Be kind and hospitable to those who come here and all will go well for you."

   Šego was an illiterate man who was only half-listened to at the time. Obviously, aspects of what he foresaw came stunningly true: Once tobacco fields and houses made of rough-hewn stone, Medjugorje is now a pilgrimage city the size of Lourdes with religious shops, pansions, and even hotels densely clustered around the church, many of them largely built with foreign money to provide for pilgrims whose numbers continue to swell (even as a Vatican commission studies the events; in September alone, 5,441 priests concelebrated Mass there, or 181 a day, distributing 300,500 Hosts).

   But there was more. Older than that were the prophecies of an elderly woman named Marićuša who tended to sheep on the hillsides and likewise saw a tremendous future in which Our Lady would appear and a "white army" would also come (this perhaps the white-clad United Nations peacekeepers during the Yugoslavian civil war in the 1990s).

   Meanwhile, in 1933, the large Cross on a massive hill/mountain known then as Śipovac (Rosehip Hill), now called Kriźevac (Hill of the Cross), was erected at the behest of parish priest named Father Bernardin Smoljan, who in 1945 was murdered by Communists in Mostar. Father Smoljan wanted to also build a new church, but the impoverishment of the area prevented that until 1969, when the original quake-damaged church [above] was replaced by the now-famous two-tower one.

  If it was all a hoax –  these intimations of something tremendous in the area's future –  it was certainly a long-running one!

  It is all detailed in a splendid new book, Medjugorje: What's Happening? by Father James Mulligan of London.

   In 1974 there was also what Father Mulligan calls a "naive painting" by a local artist, Vlado Falak, of Šurmanci (an adjacent hamlet), depicting the Blessed Mother in the sky above the new church with Cross Mountain in the background. That was seven years before six children began receiving their apparitions! The picture had been displayed in the choir loft of the church – where many later apparitions would occur (as well as in the rectory and sacristy).

   What was it that seemed to pre-ordain this area?

   No one can really know how places here and elsewhere are chosen and figure into God's master Plan, nor the role of history (and even pre-history: this is old caveman territory). It is a fact that Franciscans have ministered here for many centuries –  since the Middle Ages, with legends that Saint Francis himself once walked the craggy, dolomite-stone hillsides of former Yugoslavia.

   The blood of martyrs has been spilled in this vicinity. In 1941 – during World War Two –  a train with six cars filled with women and children was sent to Šurmanci. They were led up the mountains and thrown alive off the precipices. Sixty-nine Franciscans in Hercegovina were killed in 1945 (some buried alive at a nearby monastery called Široki Brijeg) and a total of 617 priests slain by Communists in Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina. Later, the priest who served as pastor of Medjugorje at the time of the initial apparitions would be imprisoned by Communists, who intimidated the bishop, threatened to detain the seers, and tried to keep villagers away from the hill of apparitions. Intriguing, to say the least.

   And the Vatican? Father Mulligan relates the account of a meeting in Linz between Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and Medjugorje priest Father Slavko Barbarić at which time, referring to the apparitions, Cardinal Ratzinger told the Franciscan that "the Church does not want to repress anything that is bringing good spiritual fruits" (reported in Nasa Ognjista, 1991, number 10). Father Mulligan says that according to taxi drivers and others in the village the future Pope first visited the site incognito in 1985 as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Among the alleged witnesses: an Irish pilgrim named Mary E. Smith who was with a friend named Anita Curtis and recalls that "we were sitting on the steps outside the sacristy. Cardinal Ratzinger walked right by us at half-a-meter's distance. He put his head down and to the left, toward the wall of the church, as if he did not want to be recognized by the general body of pilgrims. He was dressed in civilian clothes: a white, short-sleeved shirt open at the neck and a light gray pair of trousers. I also recognized his snow-white hair."

  Seers have declined to comment on whether the future Pope has been there (there are reports of three visitations), but it is documented that the Vatican has regularly sent "observers."

   Meanwhile, it was Cardinal Ratzinger who later sent away a local bishop from Mostar who had sought to reject the apparitions. It is also reported that in October 2009, Monsignor Edmond Farhat, former apostolic nuncio of Austria, went to Medjugorje with a group of 2,000 pilgrims and related that he had spoken to Pope Benedict about going and that the Pope was "delighted."

   Still, no one knows what the current commission will recommend, and how the Vatican will react to that recommendation. (We will abide by whatever final decision the Church renders.) A final word on Mate Šego: he also prophesied, enigmatically, that one day there would be a lake in Medjugorje, where now, in summer dryness, there is cracked earth.                                                                                                                                                            

Why Are Rosaries Changing to Gold?

By Louise Lotze

    When I made my first pilgrimage to Medjugorje in August of 1998, I took with me a white rosary from Fatima which I used there to pray the Rosary. Before leaving, I pulled my rosary from my pocket and was surprised to see that the silver links had changed to a gold color. Upon returning home, I found an article by a priest who had been to Medjugorje and turned to prayer to seek light from the Holy Spirit concerning why this was occurring. I was relieved and yet humbled to find out that it was a sign for my conversion. I was merely entering a purifying transformation.  When gold ore is mined it comes from the earth unrefined and impure. The gold ore must pass through a hot furnace where impurities are burned away, leaving in the end pure gold. In Wisdom 3:5-6, these words can be adapted to the phenomenon of “golden rosaries.” Conversion then is the beginning of the refining process of that gold nugget we call “soul.”  We enter into purification as we decide to enter into a conversion of life, to turn away from sin and anything related to sin. God's furnace is Love and He wants us to be pure gold, worthy of Himself, holy and perfect as He is in Himself. Therefore we must pass through a spiritual furnace of the fire of God's Love in order to be purified.                                                                                                                                                   

   To be a disciple, we all must take up the cross.  “The rosary we carry is a symbol of ourselves – a living rosary,” as this priest comments. The cross symbolizes our faith and our willingness to suffer with Christ by carrying our daily crosses.  We should offer our daily personal sufferings as reparation for sin, to abandon ourselves to God's holy will for us. Each link on the rosary,  connected to each other and finally to the bead, represents the suffering and crosses of our daily lives.  Since these links alone turn gold on a chosen rosary, God is thereby giving the possessor a message to begin to live the message of conversion.  Just as a rosary changes from silver to gold, so must our souls change from being good, to being better, to being the best we can be. We are called to enter into a period of purification.  In accepting His purification, we will find joy, peace, love and holiness.  Recall the messages of the Gospa, Who invites us to monthly Confession, prayer, fasting, Mass and Adoration, reading the Bible, praying the Rosary, and being a light for others to follow our example.

    As living rosaries, we must strengthen our resolve by reflecting and meditating deeper on the mysteries of the Rosary, and learn to follow the example of Jesus’s and Mary's lives into our daily lives.  We must enter into prayer to do this.  Since each bead is a symbol of our prayer and is held together by that now “golden” link, it reminds us that our trials and purification can be endured best through a prayer-life as taught by Our Lady so many times in Medjugorje. 

   I have researched on the internet, and there are many stories shared by people who rosaries have turned to a gold color.  Some of these people have even watched it turn gold, link by link.  If God has blessed any of us with this sign, His purpose is not to initiate boasting, entertainment, or hysterical wonder.  It is simply a personal message given to each of us to respond to His call to be holy and worthy of His plans He has in store for us in the future.  His desire is to bring us to happiness and peace.  My rosary, then, is a reminder to me that my purification is for my greater holiness.  This message and explanation is only one possible interpretation, but I feel personally that it is a worthy one to accept and follow. 

The First Call

By Vicki Martin

   Jerry Morin – successful real estate broker, a picture of success in a world caught up in self gratification and materialism. Jerry Morin – a man far too busy with the things of the world! Jerry Morin – a cradle Catholic, attending Mass on Saturday evening or Sunday morning out of obligation. Yes, these are words that describe Jerry prior to a visit he made to a little village in Yugoslavia in 1988 – a trip that he was taking with his mother, for his mother. 

   Throughout Jerry’s life, his mother had always prayed for him. In the early 1970s, Jerry was a professional singer and performer, traveling throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas. That life style led to heartache and disappointment. He left the music business, never wanting anything to do with music again! His mother, however, would always remind him of his God-given talents –  talents she felt should be used for God or somehow the Church.

   It was in January of 1988, in Jerry’s home in Des Moines, Iowa, where he heard the words “HEALING, DIRECTION and PURPOSE.” The voice, he thought, was that of his mother, who lived 1300 miles away in Massachusetts! He heard the same words repeated not more than 30 seconds later. This reminded him of an encounter he had experienced during Holy Week, 1983. In May, 1988, Jerry shared this experience with a friend. She immediately asked if he had heard about a village in Eastern Europe where some children were seeing the Blessed Virgin Mary. Jerry had little interest at that time, as he was too consumed in seeking what he felt was close to revealing itself. If God was truly trying to help him get his life in order, then he wanted that. He figured at his age, being single and childless, it was time to find out what God wanted for him.

   In late May, Jerry received the information that his friend had promised to send. The one page article explained that the mother of Jesus was appearing to six young children and giving messages to them that pertained to their lives, the village, and the future of the world. She called Herself the Queen of Peace, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. As Jerry read with skepticism, something very strange began to happen.  While reading Mary’s messages, he began to hear Holy Scripture echo inside his mind. He came to a place in the article where She quoted a particular scripture passage (Matthew 6:24-34) as being most important! He knew its meaning immediately, as he had received a song a few years earlier through the Holy Spirit – “I’M IN LOVE” – which had the same passage as its base. Immediately he felt chills throughout his body and tears filled his eyes! He sensed that the Holy Spirit was confirming to him that the Marian messages were from God. Was Mary a messenger sent from God to the modern world? What was going on? To what was this all leading to? Was this all just coincidence?

   In November, 1988, Jerry’s encounters prompted him to take his mother to Medjugorje, Yugoslavia.  It was on the third day of their trip that Jerry experienced what would change his life forever.  It was on that morning that Jerry heard music that was so beautiful and majestic, a song he had never heard before! This song is now the title song of the “To the World I” album – ”THE LADY OF MEDJUGORJE”! Jerry felt compelled to go to Confession that day, and little by little, the straight-faced business man from Iowa was beginning to smile and feel wonderful.  This encounter, and many following, led Jerry to discern that Our Lady was being sent as the messenger, and the message was clear. Satan was out to destroy human life, minds, hearts, and souls. Through all of this, Jerry was experiencing healing, direction, and purpose. Out of this, he was feeling the intense seriousness that he was being called upon to do a mission. He was given the words to the song ”THE SERVANT,” which confirmed to him that he was being called upon to be a servant and to pass on to others what he was being given.

    It was in December,1988, that Jerry found himself in St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Des Moines, Iowa, his church home at the time. It was then that Jerry met Regina Myers, who Jerry sensed almost immediately would be involved in the recording project of the “To the World” music collection. Regina indeed became the female vocalist of the “To the World” music, as well as the voice of Our Lady in the “Queen of Peace Messages to the World.” Jerry returned to Medjugorje in April of 1989 during the Feast of Divine Mercy, taking the “Lady of Medjugorje To the World I” music collection back, to place at the foot of Our Lady, as he had been instructed to do on his first visit. Jerry founded “Respond Ministry,” a lay apostolate, in response to the Call.

   From 1989 to 2005, Jerry, many times accompanied by Regina, found himself traveling throughout the United States, Canada, New Zealand providing witness to his conversion and the events of Medjugorje through the music and songs he had received. Jerry and Regina were married on January 1, 1992, in Mary Immaculate Church in Kirksville, Missouri. In May of 1992, Respond Ministry sponsored the Heartland Marian Conference in Des Moines. During these years he was the author/composer of the “To the World I, II, and III” music collections and author of To the World – The First Call, and Live the Message booklet.

   Jerry closed Respond Ministry in 2005, thinking that he had done all he was called to do for Our Lady and Her Son. After all, he was a father of two daughters, Mary and Annie, and stepfather to Regina’s sons, Samuel and Nick, and he needed to put family first.

  Jerry received  Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Business Administration and once again found himself in “the world.”  He once again was a commercial broker and developer. In December, 2008, he found himself facing a decision that would affect his future and the future of his family. He began to pray a novena to St. Joseph and discovered that he was once again on a journey to discover the Holy Will of God for his life. On Ash Wednesday, 2009, Jerry experienced an encounter, while praying in Mary Immaculate Church, an encounter that once again called upon him to RESPOND TO THE CALL. In response to this profound second calling, Servants to the World Mission and www.servantstotheworld.com was founded.  Jerry thought that he would be building a new home for his family, but he was shown that he would be building a mission. It was as if he was being given all of the blueprints for the building of the mission, brick by brick! Jerry continues to have encounters that are guiding him every step of the way, the Little Way. He finds that he is surrounded by the Communion of Saints, as Our Lady continues to call upon him to respond to the Call.

   Jerry states, “God is revealing to me something every day about the To The World mission, my life, new songs, what He is trying to accomplish through the messages of Our Lady, and the relevance of this mission to the entire world.  He reveals to me also the sadness of Heaven; that so many have been blinded by Satan’s allurements and the material things of this world.  It is being confirmed everyday to me that my mission is only beginning, and they prepare me in ways that are awesome.  God's power is awesome, and I believe it is about to be unleashed as never before for all mankind to see. Seeking and fulfilling God's will is my only objective while I have life on this earth.”

Fr. Mark Beard Speaks about the Eucharist

  The following is an excerpt from a talk by Fr. Mark Beard at the Notre Dame Medjugorje Conference in May, 2011.

   Let me tell you what’s important, and I want you to remember this.  Brothers and sisters in Christ, when you come to the altar tomorrow, you will receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.  It is not a relic. It is not conjecture.  His words are crystal:  “My flesh is true food; My blood is true drink. If I am not in you, and you are not in Me, you will NOT have Eternal Life.”  When you come to the altar tomorrow, you bring your problems, you bring your anxieties –  your biggest worry –  and you leave it at the altar.  Don’t you leave instructions on how to solve it.  Don’t give a date-stamp saying, “You know, if You can solve this problem on this day, I would really appreciate it!  In case You get confused, here’s how to get a hold of me, because I’m going to take it back by the time I get to that door.” 

   When you say the Apostles Creed in the profession of faith, when you say, “I believe in God,” do you believe it?  Then, brothers and sisters, you cut it loose!  You bring it to Him, and you leave it!  He needs no instructions.  He doesn’t need a date-stamp.  He doesn’t need instructions on how to solve the problem.  He’s got it.  He knows the hairs on your head.  He knew you in your mother’s womb.  Brothers and sisters, you’ve got to finish the race.  You don’t have to win it, but you’ve got to finish it. 

   Every Mass – in every language, in every country, in every hour of every day – there’s one human emotion we pray for. Do you know what it is?  Every Mass – in every language in every hour of every day – we pray for one human emotion.  Tell me the good Lord doesn’t know His children.  “Deliver us, Lord, from every evil; grant us peace in our days.  In Your mercy, keep us from sin, and protect us from all ANXIETY” [wording prior to 11/27/11]. Tell me He doesn’t know His children.  My brothers and sisters in Christ, go to Confession.  Bend that knee.  Give Him your prayer request, and cut it loose and leave it with Him.

And remember – you said you “believe in God.”  Amen?

"When it is Dark, God is Still with You"

By Cathy Nolan

   "Dear children, the Father has not left you to yourselves. Immeasurable is His love, the love that is bringing me to you, to help you to come to know Him, so that, through my Son, all of you can call Him 'Father' with the fullness of heart; that you can be one people in God's family. However, my children, do not forget that you are not in this world only for yourselves, and that I am not calling you here only for your sake. Those who follow my Son think of the brother in Christ as of their very selves and they do not know selfishness. That is why I desire that you be the light of my Son. That to all those who have not come to know the Father – to all those who wander in the darkness of sin, despair, pain and loneliness - you may illuminate the way and that, with your life, you may show them the love of God. I am with you. If you open your hearts, I will lead you. Again I am calling you: pray for your shepherds. Thank you." (Message to Mirjana, November 2, 2011)

   A couple of days before Our Lady gave this message, I spent an evening with some of my grandchildren, Angela (7), Mary Jo (5), and Isabel (2) Appleton. We always have a grand time, eating, talking, reading together and, of course, drawing. Angela loves to draw and produces reams of art. That night, she drew some remarkable pictures, completely on her own.

   The picture above is an example of Angela's art. You might think she had already heard Our Lady's message. Here is the sky, so blue overhead, with the sun way up high! And then a young woman standing, but somehow not receiving the sunshine. She has a curious coating of brown stuff all around her. But even in that coating of brown stuff, the girl is smiling and standing erect and seemingly at peace. What is she saying? "When it is dark, God is still with you."

   "When it is dark, God is still with you!" – "Dear children, the Father has not left you to yourselves."  It seems Angela knows something! When it is dark, when we feel isolated, alone, unable to pierce the dark cloud that surrounds our hearts, we are not alone! The Father has not left us to ourselves! God is still with us! What a deep profession of faith!

   To top it off, Angela signed the piece, "From: Angela. To: the earth." This is evangelization! Angela is turning towards her brothers and sisters to give them hope, just as Our Lady asked.

   Certainly it seems true that we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless we turn and become children! Thank you, Angela!

                                                                                                                                                                 www.marytv.tv
 

Vicka Has Met with Vatican Commission

By Jakob Marschner

   Visionary Vicka Ivankovic-Mijatovic has given her testimony before the Vatican Commission that investigates the events of Medjugorje, the Bosnian online newspaper, “Otvoreno,” writes. And Vicka was not the only one to cross the Adriatic when the Commission recently met, the paper also reports.

   “The International Commission on Medjugorje at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican has held another regular session for which it, unofficially, had called visionary Vicka Ivankovic-Mijatovic to give her testimony. Besides, the former parish priest from the beginning days of the apparitions.  Fr Jozo Zovko, also gave his testimony,” “Otvoreno” writes.

   The Vatican Commission held their session on October 6, the Croatian newspaper, “Slobodna Dalmacija,” reports.

   In June this year, Ivanka Ivankovic-Elez became the first Medjugorje visionary to testify before the Commission. About the same time, its chairman, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, told a press conference that the Commission still has a long way to go before being able to arrive at a conclusion.