The following is part of an interview that was done for a film documentary produced by Caritas in 1988 called The Lasting Sign. The interview was with the Medjugorje visionary Marija. She was being questioned about the beginning days of the apparitions.
Question: Tell us all that you can remember about the time the police came to the hill and when you ran. Again, just try and give us, if you can, your feelings that you were feeling yourself at that moment?
The Medjugorje visionary, Marija, being interviewed during the 1988 filming of the Medjugorje documentary The Lasting Sign.
Marija: Certainly I can’t describe the whole thing. The first days, the experiences, we could not remember it because they were so filled up. There were the moments the police came, they wanted to talk to us. At the moment – here comes an ambulance to take us to Mostar to see if we were healthy or not. At another moment, the pilgrims came, being curious, asking what Our Lady said. So the days were completely filled up, so you could think of nothing else but that. So we had a lot of experiences. So in one day, a lot of experiences, so that all these days have become mixed, like one day because there were so many experiences. Many days we would not sleep, for we were the whole night on the hill, praying. So these are the experiences that can’t even be described.
Question: Tell me about running up the hill and not feeling any of the rocks.
Marija: When we had, on the second day of the apparitions, Our Lady invited us to come nearer because we were some 500 meters away – so She beckoned us with Her hand, to come. So we ran up the hill. We did not feel anything that moment – not even the rocks, nor the brambles. So the burden of walking up, we did not feel at all. We felt like a sponge, like a spring, as if you were flying. We did not have any problems getting out of thorn bushes. We ran without any problems. We were led by Our Lady’s grace. With our own strength and forces we could not do this, at such speed, because some people who were by us, they looked at us running and they later said it was indescribable at what speed we were running.
Question: So it was superhuman?
Marija: Certainly it was a big strength that Our Lady gave us, that was a great need for Our Lady. At the same time, a great love, something like a blessing from Our Lady.
