Medjugorje Visionary Ivanka Elez
I would like to greet you all with the most beautiful greeting, “Praised be Jesus and Mary.” I am standing here before you and I want to tell you that God is alive and His Mother is here with us who is constantly inviting us for peace, prayer, conversion and penance. For 28 years I’ve been asking the same question, “God, why did you choose me?” And there is no answer for this question. I have accepted this great gift, but also this great responsibility. I’ve been always asking God to show me the way He wants me to take.
Back in 1981, I lived with my family in Mostar. All summers and holy days we spent here in Medjugorje. And on that day of 24th of June, 1981 we celebrated the feast of St. John the Baptist. And of course like everywhere else, we have a custom that on feast days and Sundays we do nothing, we do not work. And the only obligation we have on those days is to attend Holy Mass and to play while our parents were having a rest in the afternoon. That afternoon I was with Mirjana together, we found each other, outside the village and we were waiting for the other kids to join us. I do not know how much time we spent waiting but we got tired and we started walking back towards the village. And while we were walking back towards the village something was telling me to look towards the Hill. And when I looked towards the Hill I saw the Blessed Mother. And I pushed Mirjana and I said, “Look, there is Our Lady on the Hill.” But you see, Mirjana did not even bother to look over at the Hill and she said, “Don’t tell me this foolish thing.” And I kept my mouth shut and we continued our walk.
When we reached the first houses we met Milka, visionary Marija’s sister, who was going to gather the sheep. But you see, the moment Milka saw me, she asked me, “What happened to you? You look terrible.” And walking back together with the two girls I told Milka what I saw. And when we went back to that very place, both of them saw the very same thing I did, Our Lady. Our Lady was 4 or 600 meters away from us on the Hill and she was waving to us to get closer to Her. But you see, all emotions were mixed in our hearts and none of us dared to climb the Hill.
In the meantime, Vicka walked by and she saw that something was going on with us. And we told her, “Vicka, hurry up, come, look, we see Our Lady.” But Vicka took off her shoes and she ran away towards the houses. And while she was running she met two boys, two Ivans’, and she shared with them what we told her. And then the three of them came back to us. And all three of them saw the same thing the rest of us did, Our Lady. Even though there were six of us, we did not dare to climb the Hill to go to Her. I do not know how much time we spent at the base of the Hill. But when we split up, some of us went back to their houses, but the rest of us entered the first house on our way back home. The family was having a feast at the house because of the feast day of St. John the Baptist and we entered the house and we told them that we saw Our Lady. I can recall pretty well, there were apples placed on the table and those people picked up the apples and they started throwing the apples at us and they told us do not fool around with these things, apparitions are not possible. And do not say this anymore to anybody and they told us to go home and stay there. I came back home and I shared with my granny and my brother and sister what happened to me. I was told by my granny, “I do not know what is going on but I’m sure that somebody was gathering the sheep on the Hill because apparitions are not possible.” But you see whatever I said to my brother and sister they were making jokes about me.
Visionary Ivanka was the first visionary to see and speak to Our Lady when the apparitions began in Medjugorje. She shares her story with several hundred English speaking pilgrims on September 22, 2009.
I was 15 and believe me that was the longest night in my life. All night I kept asking myself whether it was possible to see Our Lady. I asked myself if I was normal. Whoever we talked to that night everybody told us, all others in the village told us, that the apparitions were not possible, because none of us had heard about Lourdes or Fatima. But you see the next day the word about the apparition, what we saw, spread so quickly through the village. And the people started gathering at the base of the Hill. And I can recall pretty well, my granny held my hand and she said no matter what it is up there you are not going. But first we saw a light three times and then we started running up the hill and we were running so fast that nobody was able to catch up with us. And you see, when we came to Our Lady I can tell you I have never seen anything so beautiful as Our Lady is. She looks like a young person, maybe 19, 20, 21, it’s hard to tell. She always has grayish dress on Her, white veil and a crown of stars. And She has black hair and blue eyes and She always floats on a cloud. But you see my words are too poor to describe the feelings I have in my heart when I am with Her because you cannot describe the love and security you feel when you are with Her. So the moment we came to Her I knew this is the Blessed Mother.
And you see that God gave me this gift. I was the first one to see Her, but also I was the first one to talk to Her. Two months before the apparitions started my mother had passed away. And the first words I spoke were, “Our Lady, please, where is my mother?” And She smiled back at me and She said, “Your mother is with me.” And She looked over the six of us and She told us not to be afraid of anything that She was going to be with us all the time. In the meantime, people were getting closer to us. They saw that something was going on with the six of us. And the next day when we wanted to climb again the Apparition Hill we were advised by elders to bring Holy water and Holy salt to bless the image we saw. So when Our Lady appeared Vicka sprinkled Her with the Holy Water. And Vicka said, “If you come from God stay, but if you do not come from God please leave us.” And Our Lady smiled back to us and She said, “I am the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace.”
And the first message Our Lady gave to us was the message of peace. After that Our Lady invited us to convert ourselves, to pray the Holy Rosary and to do penance. So from the very beginning of the apparitions, still today, these are the most important messages of Medjugorje. Whoever lives these messages Our Lady gives to all of us gets the answers to all questions he carries in his heart. From 1981 until 1985 I had the apparitions on a daily basis. Through these years Our Lady dictated to me Her biography and the future of the world and the Church. Everything is written down and when Our Lady tells me to whom and when to give I’m going to do what She tells me. On the 7th of May, 1985 I had my last daily apparition. And that was the longest apparition. Our Lady stayed with me about one hour. And that was the day I was given the 10th secret and I was told I would not have the apparitions on a daily basis anymore, but once a year, on 25th of June. So from 1985 until today I get these annual apparitions on the 25th of June each year.
On that last day of my daily apparitions Our Lady gave me a great gift, but not to me personally, but for the entire world because each one of us asks the same question, is there life after this life? And I can tell you, I’m standing here before you as a living witness because on my last daily apparition I was able to see my late mother the same way I saw her, the same way I see you today. My late mother gave me a hug and she said, “My dear child, I’m proud of you.” Our Lady has always been showing us the right way we are to take in our lives and we people are those who make the decision whether we are going to take this road or not. So this is the way of conversion, peace, prayer, fasting and penance.
Medjugorje visionary Ivanka began leading a very private life after she married and began a family, but said that she feels now it is time for her to be speaking more to the pilgrims and sharing her experiences with Our Lady. For the pilgrims visiting Medjugorje, this has been a great joy to see her.
So from six of us visionaries, each one of us has a different mission. My mission is to pray for families and Our Lady invites us all to respect the sacrament of holy matrimony and she wants us to renew the family prayer. She wants us to at least have one confession monthly and to attend holy Mass on Sundays. And what is also very important is that the Bible is placed in the center of our homes and in the center of our lives. Everyday I pray for all families in the world. And I’m kindly asking all of you to pray for our families as well. And I would like to thank you all for being so patient because you were waiting to hear the message of Our Lady. I’m thankful even more because you are willing to take the message of Our Lady back to your homes and to your families because the last apparition I had this year on 25th of June Our Lady spent with me ten minutes. And Our Lady invited us all to become the apostles of peace. That’s why you are to spread in your countries and become these apostles Our Lady wants us to be and become witnesses that preach to others with your examples, with your lives. Thank you. We are going to close this meeting with one Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be for all the families in the world.
