In the thick of the communist regime, on June 24th, 1981, the first apparition occurred. In a small village in Bosnia, called Medjugorje, on the top of a rocky hill made up of boulders, appeared a beautiful woman in blue and white holding an infant. Two young girls saw her from a distance and knew in their hearts it was Our Blessed Mother. They didn’t approach her until the next day when they returned to the hill where she appeared with four other children. When she appeared that day, the granted the children the grace to effortlessly climb the hill quickly and swiftly to get to her. She introduced herself as the Queen Of Peace, and she prayed with them. She appeared to them every day for a while either together or separately.

Through countless interrogations, threats, and attacks from communist soldiers, the visionaries continued to share the truth of seeing Our Lady, the messages to her children, and continued to practice their Catholic faith through the attack of communism through the end of it. 

In her apparitions she has prayed with the visionaries, given messages to the world, “her children”, as she calls us, and entrusted them with prophetic secrets about the end times that will be revealed to the world three days before each one occurs. After Our Lady reveals the last secret to the visionaries, she has stopped appearing to them daily. Each visionary continues to get some sort of apparition from Our Lady, either monthly, or yearly on their birthday or Christmas–in other words, her apparitions still are occurring to this day.

Countless conversions and stories of miracles have transpired in Medjugorje since the apparitions began, and Mary has revealed that this is the pinnacle of her mission- her culminating apparition in the world. Her messages are full of calls to conversion, urgency to prayer and repentance, and devotion to her son, Jesus. 

The truth about these apparitions in Medjugorje is one of the most fascinating in our Church’s history, especially since they are occurring still today. Since it is not recognized  as an official apparition from the Church, there are people that hold reservations to believe in Medjugorje. I want to remind you that just like when someone is in the process of canonization (to become a recognized Saint) and they have to have died first, the apparitions have to cease before an official investigation can begin to approve the apparition, and Our Lady is still and work here on Earth. 

I recently read through one of the visionaries testimony, Mirjana, on her experience of the apparitions throughout her life. The book is called My Heart Will Triumph. It is a truly moving account and one detail brought me a lot of peace and conviction in particular, I’ll share it with you here.

In 1987, Mirjana received a personal invitation from the Holy Father at the time, Pope John Paul II, to meet with him and speak about the apparitions in Medjugorje. In their conversation that she shared in her book St. Pope John Paul II says to her, “Take good care of Medjugorje, Mirjana. Medjugorje is the hope for the entire world.” His conviction and belief in the truth of Our Lady Queen of Peace’s mission should bring all who doubt a sense of peace. Years after Mirjana’s meeting with the Holy Father, a priest that was a friend of Pope John Paul II, shared with her that the pope had always been interested in Medjugorje as he felt it was answered prayer. Right before the apparitions began, he had been praying to Our Lady to appear on Earth again. He prayed, “I cannot do it all alone, Mother…in Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and so many other communist countries, people cannot freely practice their faith. I need your help dear Mother.” Soon after when the Pope heard about Medjugorje, a tiny village controlled by communism, he knew the Blessed Mother had answered his prayers.

To learn more about Medjugorje and read the messages, visit www.medjugorje.com.