Other sites you will visit

Throughout the past quarter of a century, Our Lady has literally appeared throughout the whole village of Medjugorje.

The story with the picture could almost be taken out of a fairy tale book. The Virgin Mary suddenly appears to Vicka and Jakov in his mother’s little cottage, takes hold of their hands and transports them right to the gate of Heaven, where a man with a long white beard stands at its entrance. They are given a glimpse of the Blessed Mother’s “homeland” before She takes them to Purgatory and then to hell, itself. After touring “eternity” they found themselves back in the humble home. But they would never be the same again. Though this house has long since collapsed, the reality of what took place in this apparition has a greater impact on pilgrims when they know they are standing on the actual site it took place.

From the private homes of the visionaries who were growing up, to Apparition Mountain and Cross Mountain, to the meadows and vineyards, to St. James Church, to the homes of friends and the various religious communities in the village, to the private homes and chapels of the visionaries today. Although Our Lady has a normal routine in Her visits, there stands out some apparitions that hold great significance and meaning. With over 14,500 as of the Summer of 2008, apparitions that have occurred in Medjugorje, the danger exists for some of these various significant apparitions to be overlooked and forgotten.

In 1996, the founder of Caritas (a Friend of Medjugorje), began instituting in our pilgrimages what is known as “A Walk Through the Village, Part I and II” in which our pilgrims are brought to various locations in the village in which special apparitions took place. We go off-the-beaten-path and share stories of Our Lady’s apparitions, visiting the actual sites that are not well known, but have great significance to Our Lady’s plans that help lead to an understanding of the immensity of the plan of God for the salvation of the world through Our Lady’s apparitions in Medjugorje.

A special apparition took place in this little cabin tucked in a wooded area of Medjugorje. This is the Caritas Community cabin where our members stay when in the village working in the Caritas Mission House over extended periods of time. Marija has said when she comes to visit there, that it reminds her of being in Alabama. In the year of 1999, we had the great grace of hosting Our Lady’s apparitions on both Her birthday, August 5th, and Her Assumption, August 15th. Even a humble little cabin in the woods is not beneath the Queen of Peace to visit with Her presence. It was a great joy for the community.

Within these “walk-throughs,” history is shared of the early days of the apparitions in such a way as to help pilgrims go back in time and relive the experiences of the visionaries and villagers when they first encountered Our Lady, as well as the following months after the apparitions began, and through the years to the present moment. One can better appreciate the grace Medjugorje offers when one can “walk-through” the history, realizing that as pilgrims, whose feet are now standing upon the Holy Ground of Medjugorje, they too become a part of that history and the unfolding story of Medjugorje because the graces that were given to those in the beginning are still available during this time of grace.