June 27, 2012 Dear Family of Mary! "Dear children! With great hope in the heart, also today I call you to prayer. If you pray, little children, you are with me and you are seeking the will of my Son and are living it. Be open and live prayer and, at every moment, may it be for you the savor and joy of your soul. I am with you and I intercede for all of you before my Son Jesus. Thank you for having responded to my call." (June 25, 2012 Anniversary Message) Our Lady gave us a beautiful gift on the 31st Anniversary. She gave us the gift of great hope in the heart! My heart leapt with joy when I heard those words! Great hope! Great hope! Thank you, dear Mother, for giving us your great hope. We need it so badly. Yesterday (Tuesday, June 26) was another wonderful day for me and for our whole Mary TV crew. Let me pick up with some of what happened on the evening of June 25, the Anniversary. We who are staying with Ivan this week have been able to attend his apparitions in his chapel each evening. It is a tremendous privilege, and something to be treasured. We were told that on the Anniversary, Ivan would be having his apparition somewhere else, and so we would not be able to attend. But, on Monday afternoon we were told that plans had changed and Ivan would be in his chapel for the apparition and we were invited to attend! What an honor and surprise to be able to be with Ivan for the 31st Anniversary apparition. We were not able to take pictures, so I have nothing to show you, but Denis was able to see Ivan's face from where he knelt, and he said that he has never seen Ivan so filled with joy and radiant. Ivan, himself, told us that Our Lady came, very joyful and happy, dressed in a golden dress, and that the major portion of the apparition was a private conversation between them. Our Lady and Ivan spoke of their memories of the first days. How much love passes between them! It is extraordinary! Then we walked down to the church for the evening mass. Here is a picture of the crowd. So many people from all over the world! Praying with them is like being in heaven. 
(c)Mary TV 2012 Crowd at the 31st Anniversary Mass Later, Monday night, at 10:00 pm, Our Lady appeared to Ivan on Apparition Hill. I could not climb. But there were thousands of people on the hill. You can see from this picture, all the flashlights outlining the path up and down the hill. 
(c)Mary TV 2012 Lights on Apparition Hill on the Anniversary Later that night I caught this picture of the moon. It is NOT miraculous! Just beautiful! 
(c)Mary TV 2012 The moon over Medjugorje Tuesday was a beautiful day. We woke up to cool air!!! It was a blessed relief. After English Mass at 10:00 am, Fr. Svet gave a talk in the John Paul II building behind the church. Fr. Svet has taken care of the English speaking pilgrims for years. He is also in charge of Mother's Village, for orphaned children. Fr. Svet started his talk in a most interesting way. He mentioned to us, pilgrims, that if we don't know what is happening to us [for instance while we are on pilgrimage], that is good, because then we are learning something new, going into new territory in our lives. If we knew what was happening to us, it would not be good because we would not be moving into a new understanding of life. Moving into the unknown is a time when we investigate and become like little children. That is how we learn new things. He said that children live to play. Children play all the time, making even the smallest tasks into games. Fr. Svet said that is good. Even Jesus said, "Unless you become like this little child, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." If we don't spend our day like a child, with the curiosity of a child, we are wasting our time. I like this!! 
(c)Mary TV 2012 Unless you become like a child.... The rest of the afternoon was spent working at Mary TV. Our team is making headway with the technology. We got the rosary up and in the archives today. It is a fight!! But we will win. At 6:00 pm it was back up to Ivan's for the Rosary and apparition. I feel so blessed to have been with Our Lady these days. As usual, you were in my heart and I offered all of you to Our Lady. After this, Ivan took our group on a little walk in his neighborhood, to show us the important spots associated with the first day of the apparitions, 31 years ago. We saw his parent's house, which stands just a few houses down from Ivan's present house. They still live there. 
(c)Mary TV A beautiful door in Bijakovici He explained how there were really not roads in 1981, just paths. He showed us where he had been playing with his friends, and where he met Vicka and Ivanka and Mirjana, when they were running from the apparition site, full of excitement and fear. He showed us where he first saw Our Lady, and explained how he felt. The fear was overwhelming. He had never heard of an apparition. So he ran home and locked himself in his room and didn't come out until the next day. It was so nice to hear the story of the first day again. 
(c)Mary TV 2012 Ivan shares of the first day, while Denis and Mara listen One interesting question was asked. A pilgrim asked Ivan if he could explain what the crown of stars really looks like. Ivan responded that the crown looks like reals stars, but they are stars of light, not physical things. They form a circle over Our Lady's head, but not really close to her head. It looks almost like a halo. He said it looks similar to the crown of stars on the statue in his chapel, in shape. Wouldn't you love to see it! 
(c)Mary TV 2012 Ivan's statue Well, the gifts just keep coming to us, here in Medjugorje. We have only two full days left of this pilgrimage. You will be in our prayers. Thanks for joining me in these reflections! I feel like you are right here with me. In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2012 | 
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