On November 23, 1988, while Marija was in the United States staying in the home of a Friend of Medjugorje and his family, Our Lady said that the next day’s apparition would be in an empty field next to the home Marija was staying. Our Lady then said that everyone was invited to attend, making a public invitation to come to Her apparition. In the three months that Marija was in Alabama, this was the only apparition that took place in the Field. The date, November 24, 1988 was Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Abraham Lincoln in the 1864 made a Proclamation that a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God would be celebrated the third Thursday in November that the people of “this great nation†would remember and give thanks to God for all His blessings upon them and the United States. Our Lady came very happy in the apparition and She gave the following message:
Nothing Our Lady does is by accident. Everything is part of a Divine Plan. Our Lady’s appearance on Thanksgiving Day by the Pine Tree was a call for America to return back to her Christian roots. This site was consecrated to Our Lady and established as a place of pilgrimage to pray for the conversion of the United States. The next day, November 25, 1988, Marija received the 25th of the month message from Our Lady. In a beautiful reference to “Thanksgiving†Our Lady speaks of why God grants man freedom. She said:
