I learned a whole lot and enjoyed your accounts and photos. Thank you especially for your prayers. They are priceless.
Thank you all for you prayers and keeping me company out there Just to round this all off , a few bits and pieces. On the way back to the airport I chatted with the taxi driver who was born and lived in Medugorje all his life. He was three years old when I last visited there and so is 33 years old. He very much believes in the apparitions and tires to live out the messages in his day to day life. He told me he had never ever met anyone from the village who did not believe in the apparitions. He was shocked when I suggested otherwise. He said the shops in the villages are not owned by Muslims but only by Catholics from the village . He was shocked when I suggested otherwise. He agreed with me that working on a Sunday was wrong and he said he never ever did so himself. He also said that the priests have indeed spoken about not working the Sabbath . However pilgrims from the wider national areas came to Medugorje on Sunday as day trippers so this was the only day they could get to buy things. He agreed with me that this still did not make shop opening right. He told me that the few beggars in the village are false and making huge amounts of money and pilgrims should not give them money. He wished that the priests would condemn them more. He knew all the visionaries and agreed with me that they have a very,very difficult life in being so famous. From a random comment he made, people in the village are still relatively poor on the whole. They would, for instance be much poorer than those in Ireland.
My own feelings about the people of Medugorje is that well, this may sound like an exaggeration , is that they are a Holy. That it is a holy village. A for instance the other evening I past a random house were a large group of people were saying the rosary. Faith is just part of their DNA . Also I would say for the people of Croatia as a whole I would say, 'They have kept the Faith of their Fathers'. I think a big part of this is that they just recently escaped communist persecution. They are just a good Catholic country..as Ireland used to be.
This morning when I woke up I felt a strong feeling of the presence of Our Lady beside me. She thanked me for having responded to her call to go out there and told me that I had accomplished what was intended in my being called. What was the intention of my being called ? Well in talking to those two poor Irish drug addicts from Dublin who are constantly visiting Medugorje it became clear to me that Medugorje was carrying them. In my case however the opposite was the case. I was called to Medugorje so that, for a little while, I could help carry Medugorje.
If anyone reads this perhaps you could say a little pray for an intention. My dog is up at the dog kennels and they do not open on Sunday. I miss him a lot and feel sorry for the poor big creature stuck up there. After morning mass I intend to ring them and ask them to let me take him home today. A, 'Hail Mary', that they might say, 'Yes', would be a big help. They would usually say a big no. Every Hail Mary is like a rose floating to heaven.
Was only in Garabandal for a few hours yesterday but it was such a day of blessings. As soon as we arrived the lady I went with spotted Jacinta the visionary standing outside her house talking to some nuns. So we went over and said hello and Jacinta blessed us with a crucifix that had been kissed by Our Lady, and and we got to kiss it. I was basically walking on clouds for the rest of the day.
Ah, but your heart is young. May the Child Jesus bless you and give you strength for both the ascent and descent!
Repetition strengthens our resolve! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
