Visionary, Marija, returned to Caritas of Birmingham to be with a Friend of Medjugorje, his family and the Caritas Community for a semi-private visit September 11-17, 2014. There were only 200-300 people present for these daily apparitions. It was Marija who had desired to return to celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on September 14 with the newly constructed Cross that had just been consecrated to Our Lady the year before, July 30, 2013. On this day, September 11, during Our Lady’s first apparition, She gave a gift that She has frequently given when with a Friend of Medjugorje and the community; he was given the freedom to choose when the apparition would be the following day. Our Lady said:
Also different than normal, Our Lady did not designate where She wanted the apparition to be. As the numbers this time were much smaller than normal when Marija comes, a last minute decision was made to just open the entire Home of a Friend of Medjugorje and his wife. The apparitions would take place in the living room, not the Bedroom, so everyone could be in the room. The living area of a Friend of Medjugorje’s Home is open and an upstairs loft looks down on the room. Pilgrims were throughout the whole house, from the upstairs loft, down the stairs, in the living room, and in the back library, even a few in the kitchen. The apparition took place in the evening. After the apparition, Marija reminisced about the time she was first in this house a Friend of Medjugorje, his wife and family back in 1988. She and her brother, Andrija, had come and stayed for three months during the time she gave one of her kidneys to him. He was suffering from kidney disease. Back then, the house was packed every night for the apparitions as it was this time. Marija said to everyone on the evening of September 12, 2014:
“…before, I remember the first time when we were here [in the living room] because many times people come also here [to pray overflowing from the Bedroom into the living room], because the reality is that this house becomes, when I gave my kidney to my brother – this house became a chapel – as Our Lady appeared in the living room, the sleeping room (Bedroom) and other rooms…”
Marija again said that Our Lady said the apparition tomorrow could be when and where a Friend of Medjugorje chooses.
