From towering Mount Križevac (Cross Mountain) and Podbrdo (Apparition Hill), part of the mountain range that surrounds this small pilgrimage village, to the bells calling the faithful to recite the Angelus three times a day, to the singing that wafts over the streets from the evening Croatian Mass nearby at St. James Church. 

Medjugorje was on the last leg of our pilgrimage, led by Fr. Pietrowski, director of St. Pius Residence for Retired Priests, in Ronkonkoma, organized by 206 Tours. Among the sites we traveled to included Mont St. Angelo (Archangel Michael’s 7th-century cave church on Mount Gargano), Padre Pio’s center at San Giovanni Rotunno, and the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, all incredibly beautiful, holy locations, high on hilltops.

(Skeptics need not read any further.) I do believe in miracles and past holy people. We need hope right now, and our current times are troubling. So, when my Bayport friends talked about this trip at a dinner party, I said immediately, “I’m in.”

I had heard about Mary’s apparitions, appearing to six Croatian children in 1981 on a hillside in Medjugorje in Yugoslavia, now Bosnia and Herzegovina. (The area has experienced brutal wars due to religious differences and Soviet sanctions.)

Over 50 million people internationally have flocked here drawn by her messages, since the 1981 apparitions. The original St. James Church, where Masses are said, was completed in 1897, but a new church with its twin spires began construction in 1934. It is beautiful, located on about an acre and a half of carefully landscaped land, a Vatican compound now, with a shrine area to Mary and a large crucifixion cross that amazingly seeps liquid (chronicled on the History Channel—no one knows where it comes from), as well as a large outdoor altar area accommodating 5,000. Across the street is St. Francis Garden, a pretty, peaceful spot with an enclosed shrine to Mary.

We stayed minutes from St. James Church, at the Grace Hotel, which fronted the street with a floor-to-ceiling windowed restaurant and outdoor café. Local investors began building modern hotels; ours was 15 years old when pilgrimages began increasing, so accommodations were comfortable (the food at Grace Hotel was amazing).

The six children who saw Mary through daily appearances are Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti, Ivan Dragicevic, Vicka Ivankovic-Mijatovic, Jakov Colo, Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo and Ivanka Ivankovic-Elez. (Mary told them Medjugorje was chosen because of its devout residents.)

They ranged in ages 10 to 18 at the time and are now adults. Three of them—Vicka, Ivan and Marija—still receive a daily apparition at 6:40 p.m.; the others receive them only on particular dates. One evening, we attended the Magnificat House a short distance away, where Marija relayed the public message from Mary to about 500 people from all over the world. There was an exquisite violin player as well as a guitarist.

It was life affirming.

Mary’s main message is “Pray for Peace.” She asks us to consider each other as sisters and brothers, and to focus on reconciliation as well as unity, love, and respect of other religions. It is a message that all faiths can aspire to.

It’s two weeks now since I’m back. I miss the wonderful collection of 22 interesting, kind seekers I traveled with. We laughed a lot and helped each other with directions and assisting hands. Our guides, Raffaela in Italy and Slavenka in Medjugorje, were wonderful leaders of information. Great weather with a  rainbow touched our path; tiny yellow butterflies followed at times.

I hope to hang onto the peace I felt from that trip. Mary’s message is one we can all follow.