Sunrise, Sunset – Swiftly Flow the Years

October 19, 2018 A.D.

(Caritas Community, Medjugorje)

We started our day today, October 19, 2018, as do many in the village of Medjugorje every Friday, climbing Cross Mountain. It was dark when we began the climb, with the light of a new day slowly penetrating the darkness. We timed our climb to reach the Cross before sunrise. There is a grace to climbing Cross Mountain. The effort and penance of the climb gives way to a deep joy and peace at the top. The cool breeze that greets one at the Cross is a welcomed grace and the view of Medjugorje and Apparition Mountain is beautiful, but especially so at sunrise. A new day dawning over Medjugorje, the village of Our Lady, always spills first over the Hill of Apparitions, the first and favored site of Our Lady’s apparitions.

Sunrise over Apparition Mountain in Medjugorje, taken early this morning, Friday, October 19, 2018.

We learned later in the morning that Ivan would be having a public apparition on top of Apparition Mountain tonight and realized that as we began our day at sunrise on Cross Mountain, we would be ending our day with Our Lady, on Apparition Mountain at sunset. This time, we climbed while the light was beginning to fade into darkness, and waited in the dark for Our Lady to appear, asking that She bring light to our hearts. The mountain apparitions are among the most beautiful to experience. To be under a canopy of stars, with the moon three-quarters full that sheds enough light to illuminate the hillside, with whispered prayers in every language, while more and more people arrive—one can sense the deep love that is present among so many, all of whom have gathered on this spot because of the desire to be with Our Lady. And when She arrives, the silence is profound, even while thousands of souls are pouring out their hearts to Her. There were those present this night who were experiencing this for the first time. There were many others who have been returning to Medjugorje and climbing this mountain for years, always thankful to have one more opportunity to be with Our Lady. The experience is always profound, but perhaps what makes it most profound is that Our Lady continues to come, year after year, to gather Her children around Her—from sunrise to sunset, 365 days a year, for 37 years.

Ivan’s Prayer Group Apparition on top of Apparition Mountain – October 19, 2018

The apparition tonight began at approximately 9:00 PM and lasted 7 minutes. Following is Ivan’s description of the apparition:

“Also today, as every day after the meeting together with Our Lady I would like to bring closer to you a little of tonight’s meeting. Also, today, Our Lady came to us very joyful and happy and at the beginning She greeted all of us with Her motherly greeting, ‘Praised be Jesus my dear children.’ Then, for a while, Our Lady, with Her arms extended, prayed over all of us here. Especially She prayed over you who are sick present here. Then Our Lady briefly addressed all of us:

“Dear children, also today, in a special way, I desire to call you to accept, with love, the will of God. Especially I call you to pray for the sick, for them to accept their cross and will for God to be glorified through them. The Mother prays for all of you, dear children, and for all of you offers to Her Son.”

“Then Our Lady blessed all of us with Her motherly blessing, and blessed everything you brought to be blessed. Then I recommended all of you, your needs, your intentions, your families and especially the sick. After that, Our Lady continued to pray for a while over all of us and She left in that prayer, in an illuminated Sign of the Cross, with a greeting, ‘Go in peace my dear children.’”

– Community of Caritas, in Medjugorje

The sunset behind Cross Mountain today in Medjugorje, taken this evening, Friday, October 19, 2018, as seen from Apparition Mountain.

The sun rises and sets by the laws of nature and of Nature’s God, set in motion at the beginning of time as a perpetual action until the end of the world. The sunrise and the sunset are the will of God in action, witnessing to us every day the command of the Creator. So too, Our Lady’s apparitions in Medjugorje are by the will of God. When Our Lady says tonight to accept the will of God, that means not only your individual life circumstances, but the circumstances of the state of the world, affected by the apparitions of the Queen of Peace, sent by God to do battle against the evil spirit, and the effect Her apparitions will have in destroying everything which does not glorify God. The world is sick, its care given over to the Queen of Peace, who, raising up Her apostles will, “will” that the world glorifies God. You as an individual are called to take part in this work of Heaven, the will of God through Our Lady’s Medjugorje apparitions. Your life does not belong to you, but is to be spent bringing others to the light of Heaven.

December 25, 1992

“…do not forget that your life does not belong to you, but is a gift with which you must bring joy to others and lead them to Eternal Life…”

No other people in history have had the opportunity we have today. Reflect on the will of God in sending Our Lady, the responsibility we bear in answering that call, and the future which awaits the world, by order of the Creator, that through Our Lady’s apparitions, the world “will” change from its present life, leaving only what brings glory to Him, purified through the Cross which awaits it.

September 2, 2011

“…Everything around you is passing and everything is falling apart, only the glory of God remains…”

Let it be very clear, no mistaking any other option, the world “will” glorify God.

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