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"I have dedicated my life to you through the centuries." (Our Lady to the visionaries in 1984)
"On July 29, Our Lady spoke again to Ivan about August 5, saying that the important thing was not to talk about it and publicize it, but to pray and fast. If this were done, 'her Son would take care of every heart that comes to Medjugorje.' What our Lady probably meant by this last phrase was that to be blessed by Jesus, it was not necessary to be present bodily at Medjugorje, but that it was sufficient to be there spiritually, with one's heart.
"The people of Saint James parish responded magnificently to Our Lady's request for prayer and fasting. News about August 5 spread with amazing rapidity in the United States and there were a good number of people here in this country who fasted on bread and water for three days prior to that date.
"In addition to praying and fasting in preparation for August 5, Our Lady told the seers to make the day of August 5, a day of prayer: 'I have dedicated all my life to you through the centuries. Let it not be too much to give that day to me. There will be conversions, changes in the lives of people, in those who are psychologically ill, in sinners. Especially young people will accept me.'
"To give the reader some idea of what happens at Medjugorje on important occasions, to impart something of the 'feel and flavor' of the place at such times, we share a report written by Margie Karminski who spent nine days there at the time of Our Lady's two thousandth birthday. While there, she kept a daily log of what happened and wrote her report soon after she returned to the United States. [The following is Margie's report of August 5, 1984]
"On Sunday, August 5, the Karminskis once again picked up the sister they knew at Potoci. On their way to Medjugorje, the sister told them the nuns would often walk from Potoci to Medjugorje, a distance of about thirty miles, starting at three in the morning and getting there at ten. As they drove along, they encountered a man walking alone on the road. The sister identified him as a priest from Mostar whom she knew. He waved to them as they passed by. The sister said he had a car but wanted to walk - a distance of twenty four miles. It was 2 pm then and about 90 degrees in the shade. Some ten miles from Medjugorje, they saw pilgrims walking along the road, reciting the rosary. It is estimated that some 30,000 to 40,000 people came for August 5.
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"It was 2:30 p.m. when they arrived at the parish church....
"The sister from Potoci told Margie Karminski that two teenage girls from Dubrovnik said that around 7:00 a.m. Our Lady had appeared on Mount Krizevac for about 15 minutes. Her hands were uplifted and she turned slowly. Some people saw her dressed in brilliant white and some in colors. Sister told Margie that at first she had doubted their story but later believed it when others reported seeing the same things.
"That was not the only sign seen on August 5. Signs in the sun were also witnessed later in the day while the apparition was going on in the church. Two sisters from the United States were kind enough to give me written accounts of what they saw:
"We were sitting outside in a large crowd of people when someone tapped me on the shoulder and told me to look at the sun. When I looked, the sun was the size of a large dinner plate and it was spinning furiously. I immediately told my sister to look and we both witnessed this unusual phenomenon. This occurred on August 5, 1984 from 6:45 pm to 6:50.
"On August 5, my sister and I were sitting outside. The church was too crowded to enter. I was sitting on the ground next to my sister's wheelchair with my eyes closed. It was approximately 6:45 pm. We prayed the five decades of the rosary and then the litany began.
"Suddenly, my sister said: 'Look! Look at the sun!' I opened my eyes and looked up. It was the most amazing sight. I looked directly at the sun without it hurting my eyes at all. The glare and the rays that it usually emits were gone. As we watched the outer rim, we could see it spinning furiously. It continued like this for approximately five minutes. And then it was over. The glare returned and one of us could stare directly at it any longer....'
"Margie Karminski said that the villagers have come to accept the frequency o
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"Some eighty priests concelebrated at Mass on August 5 which was presided over by Father Tomisloav. He spoke of an eighty year old woman who had walked 120 kilometers and of a young man who had walked from Belgium and whom the Karminskis had met earlier in the day. He also told of a criminal who had spent ten years in jail on a murder charge and whom a priest had taken to Medjugorje on a pilgrimage. Once there, he had cursed and blasphemed and asked: 'What am I doing here?' He was taken to the room of apparitions where he was completely overcome with intense pain from head to foot. The pain was so bad he had to lie down. The pain went up into his head and he suddenly saw every sin he had committed. He cried out: 'O my God, what have I done? Now, I must do something to repair my life.' He heard Jesus say to him: 'You are mine now.' His life has completely changed now and he goes to Mass and prays every day.
"The seers said Our Lady was the most brilliant they had ever seen her. She was glowing and very happy. She said that she was 'very pleased at the response of the people to her request' (for three days of prayer and fasting in preparation for her birthday). 'Thank you for your coming,' she said.'Thank you for all your prayers. Continue to pray. Make sacrifices. Convert yourselves. Pray, pray, don't stop praying.'
"In the interview with Jelena utilized above, she was asked about August 5. She replied that Our Lady 'said she had never cried so much'. And she actually shed three kinds of tears. First, 'three normal tears', next 'three tears of blood' symbolic of her sorrow, and finally 'three golden tears' representing her happiness. She was very happy because the people had carried out her requests and 'done everything she had asked them to do.'" (Joseph A Pelletier, A.A.. The Queen of Peace Visits Medjugorje. Worcester: Assumption Publications, 1985. p. 104-110)
I am sorry this is so long, but it does carry with it the flavor of that first Birthday Party for Our Lady in Medjugorje! The pilgrims walking for many miles in penance and prayer to be present in Medjugorje, the signs in the sun, the prayers and confessions around the church, the apparition to the visionaries right in the church, the dramatic conversion and deliverance of a hardened criminal, and the presence of Our Lady, so happy that she cried...these are all the incredible and incredibly normal events of Medjugorje! But especially on August 5, the graces abound, because the present that Our Lady desires on her birthday is the conversion and salvation of her children.
We can still prepare for tomorrow, through prayer and renunciation. We can give Our Lady a gift of love for her 2027th birthday!
In Jesus and Mary!
Cathy Nolan
PS. This book, The Queen of Peace Visits Medjugorje, is the book Fr. Donald Calloway read on the night of his conversion. It is the one through which Our Lady was able to reach into his heart and pull him to safety. Amazing!!
PPS. And to Margie Karminski: Hats off! You and your beautiful family first brought Medjugorje to so many of us. Thank you for your courage and your fidelity to Our Lady!
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