Tonight in Medjugorje Our Lady prayed a long time for peace on this September 11
Medjugorje visionary Ivan will be leaving Medjugorje in a few days, so we expect this to be his last apparition of Our Lady on Apparition Mountain, the last opportunity for pilgrims in Medjugorje to experience the beauty and the intimacy of Our Lady’s presence on Her mountain, while gazing at the distant lights of Medjugorje, under the starry sky, until, God-willing, next summer.
There is always the hope that Our Lady of Medjugorje will continue to appear for yet another year but, in fact, many take for granted Our Lady’s daily appearances, thinking they will never come to an end. But the visionaries of Medjugorje have always known one day Our Lady will stop appearing and that “one day” will eventually be “today.” So, when we see another year pass by, anther “good-bye” in terms of the mountain apparitions for the summer, even though Our Lady still appears within the private homes of the visionaries, we feel a little bit of that “one day” coming closer, and it’s hard to say good-bye. The words of an old song from several decades ago, entitled, “A Summer Song” reflect the sadness and loneliness of seeing Our Lady go, even though She is still with us, because we can see the time approaching when the “good-bye” will be forever.
Sweet sleepy warmth of summer nights
Gazing at the distant lights
In the starry sky
Autumn leaves must fall
But don’t you know that it hurts me so
To say goodbye to you
Wish you didn’t have to go
No no no no And when the rain
Beats against my window pane
I’ll think of summer days again
And dream of you Autumn leaves must fall
But don’t you know that it hurts me so
To say goodbye to you
Wish you didn’t have to go
No no no no
We, in the Community, often say “You’re Gonna Miss This”, a title of a song we play, because we realize the time we are in is so unique that this will never pass by again. A great time of grace where the wonder of God descends down upon us daily.
In Yearning for Our Lady to Continue,
A Friend of Medjugorje
Though the crowds weren’t as thick as they have been throughout the summer months, still there were several thousand pilgrims present for Our Lady’s apparition tonight. It is a very beautiful experience to be on the mountain early in the evening, enjoy the silence of the mountain as the sun is setting, and then slowly see the numbers on the mountain grow as time moves towards 9:00 p.m. when the Rosary is begun by Ivan’s prayer group. What began as a trickle of people, became increasingly a stream and then a river of flashlights and pilgrims making their way to the center where Our Lady’s statue is located. In any other setting it would be odd to see old people, people with disabilities or physical handicaps, and parents with very young children maneuvering around stones in the dark after first climbing the tall mountain but here in Medjugorje it is a normal sight. To see so many climb the mountain in all kinds of weather is not only inspiring, but brings so much hope to the heart seeing so many who love Our Lady offering this kind of sacrifice just to be with Her. Our Lady once said that She would stay with us as long as we wanted Her to. Being on Apparition Mountain tonight is good evidence that Our Lady is still wanted.
Following is Ivan’s description of tonight’s apparition of September 11, 2009:
“Tonight, most important from the meeting with Our Lady is that Our Lady came very joyful and happy and, at the beginning, as always, greeted all of us with Her motherly greeting, ‘Praised be Jesus, my dear children.’ Then with Her hands extended She prayed over all of us present here. Then, especially, for a long time Our Lady prayed for peace, for peace in the world. She then blessed us all with Her motherly blessing and then blessed all the articles you brought for blessing. I recommended all of you, all of your needs, your intentions, your families and especially, all of you sick present. Then Our Lady continued to pray for peace. Then I prayed an Our Father and a Glory Be with Our Lady. Our Lady left in an illuminated Sign of the Cross with a greeting: “Go in peace, my dear children.” I would like to emphasize once more that for the greatest part of the time in my meeting with Our Lady, She prayed for peace in the world.”
Many pilgrims were heard commenting coming down the mountain tonight that it was interesting that Our Lady prayed for peace tonight on the anniversary of September 11th. Eight year’s ago the World Trade Center in New York was attacked by terrorists killing more than 3,000 people who were caught inside while the towers collapsed. The world changed that day and peace has been threatened unlike any other time in the history of the world. At English Mass today in Medjugorje, Fr. Kevin Devine, from New York, placed a special crucifix on the altar for the Mass that he offered today in St. James Church for all the victims of 911. It had been fashioned from steel from the World Trade Center and given to him as a gift for his service at Ground Zero as a chaplain.
Tonight, September 11, 2009, the sun sets at the foot of Cross Mountain in Medjugorje.
Medjugorje is just a few days away from celebrating one of its biggest feast days, the Triumph of the Cross. With Our Lady’s prayers for peace in the apparition tonight, it gives hope that the Cross will triumph even in our world where so much wickedness presently reigns. May we all join Our Lady tonight in praying for peace in the world.
As this day closes in Medjugorje, with the sun sinking into the horizon today, September 11, 2009, we bid farewell to Our Lady on the Mountain of Apparitions in Medjugorje thanking Her for the tens of thousands She touched this summer in these special apparitions, and begging Her to return again next year—“Same time, same place.”
Pilgrims were “gazing at the distant lights” of the village of Medjugorje on top of Apparition Mountain tonight, September 11, 2009 as they awaited Our Lady’s apparition. There was no “starry sky” tonight, rather it was overcast with only a few occasional opening of the clouds to catch a glimpse of a star or two. But Our Lady was strong in the wind tonight. The coolness reminded us that summer is over.
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