THE MEDJUGORJE WITNESS

May 18, 2026

Medjugorje... a place of repentance

• Our Lady made her first appearance at Medjugorje on June 24, 1981. It was no coincidence that it happened on the Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist, sent by God “as a witness to speak for the light, so that everyone might believe through him” (John 1 : 7).

John claimed his mission was to baptise with water and that Jesus would follow him to baptise with the Holy Spirit. (John 1 : 33)

What prompts a person to repent of their sins? It can only be the action of the Holy Spirit, which explains why Medjugorje is such a powerful place of repentance, and often referred to as “The Confessional of the World”.

At Medjugorje, the first of the Mysteries of Light stations on the path leading towards the bronze sculpture of the Risen Christ, illustrates the Baptism of Christ. Pictured in the mosaic are Jesus, John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit, the Lamb of God, and among the crowd, John the Evangelist, a disciple of the Baptist who asked Jesus, “Where do you live?” Jesus replied, “Come and see”.

Jesus’ invitation to “come and see” was often repeated by Fr Slavko Barbarić when people questioned him about the Medjugorje phenomenon.

The Holy Spirit is generally symbolised as a dove, declared by the Baptist in John’s gospel: “I saw the Spirit coming down on him from heaven like a dove and resting on him” (1 : 32). It was John who also pointed out Jesus to his disciples as the Lamb of God.

In today’s Mass reading from Acts (19 : 1-8) St Paul states: “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance; but he insisted that the people should believe in the one who was to come after him – in other words, Jesus…” – the sacrificial lamb of God, “the one who is going to baptise with the Holy Spirit” (John 1 : 33).

The picture above doesn’t show the dove that appears on the mosaic. The Holy Spirit is never seen at Medjugorje, but instead is witnessed in the lives and actions of repentant pilgrims. 

“ I tell you most solemnly, unless a man is born through water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God: what is born of the flesh is flesh; what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised when I say: You must be born from above. The wind blows wherever it pleases; you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit.” (John 3 : 4-8)

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May 17, 2026

He prayed for us

• “I pray for them...for those whom you have given me” (John 17:9). There is something deeply moving about knowing someone has prayed for us. A parent lifting a child to God, a friend interceding in a time of need, even a stranger speaking our name before the throne of grace – it touches the heart. How much more, this extraordinary truth: Jesus prayed for us. On the night before He gave His life, He ascended to the Father and continues to intercede for us.

In this prayer, Jesus united us to the Father through the very “hour” that lay ahead – His death on the Cross – which He called His glory. He asked that we might truly know God and keep His word, not by our own strength, but by the Spirit of Truth. And through His self-offering, we are held secure. 

Because Jesus prayed for us, we now pray for one another. Today, carry someone before the Lord. Ask for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit into their lives, that the gifts of the Spirit may take root and bear fruit, and that they may be transformed in Christ Jesus – because He first prayed for us.

Fr Ian, OSA

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May 14, 2026

A glorious mystery

• Was the Mother of Jesus present when he ascended into Heaven from Mount Olivet? The apostles were there but none of the four gospels make it clear if Mary was among them.

The Italian sculptor Carmelo Puzzolo, who made the fifteen Rosary stations erected on Apparition Hill,  included Mary in the Ascension scene. She is seen placed as the central figure with John and Peter either side.

However, there is somewhat of a mystery about the number of figures in the lineup. Not including Mary, there are twelve, But Judas Iscariot had earlier commited suicide, so that should leave eleven apostles. The twelfth figure can’t be Matthias, chosen to be the apostle to replace Judas. He wasn’t elected until after the Ascension.

Two of the figures have their back to the viewer. Could these represent the two angels who were also present at acene. If so that would leave only ten disciples accounted for.

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May 12, 2026

Pope Leo meets with Medjugorje bishop

• Today, Pope Leo received Bishop Petar Palić of Mostar-Duvno, the diocese in Bosnia and Herzegovina in which Medjugorje is located.

Bishop Palić, who has led the diocese since 2020, is also apostolic administrator of Trebinje-Mrkan and vice president of the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

During the May 11 audience, Pope Leo and Bishop Palić “discussed the pastoral situation in the dioceses of Mostar-Duvno and Trebinje-Mrkan, as well as the current sociopolitical challenges in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the episcopal conference’s news agency said in a statement.

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Source: catholic culture.org

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May 01, 2026

Crossing the sea

• He who calls us, came here below, to give us the means of getting there. He chose the wood that would enable us to cross the sea – indeed, no-one can cross the ocean of this world, who is not borne by the Cross of Christ. Even the blind can cling to this Cross. If you can’t see where you are going very well, don’t let go of it, it will guide you by itself. So then, brethren, this is what I should like to impress on your hearts, if you want to live in a spirit of devotion, a Christian spirit, cling to Christ just as he became for us, so as to rejoin him as he is now and as he has always been. This is why he came down to us, for he became man that he might take up the weak, enabling them to cross the sea and disembark into the homeland, where a ship is no longer needed, because there is no more ocean to cross.

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St Augustine of Hippo

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April 29, 2026

When darkness descends, seek the Light

I, the light, have come into the world,

so that whoever believes in me

need not stay in the dark any more.

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John 8 : 12

• Before starting from my inn in the morning of May 26th or 27th, I sat down on my bed and began to sob violently. My servant, who had acted as my nurse, asked what ailed me. I could only answer, “I have a work to do in England.” I was aching to get home; yet for want of a vessel I was kept at Palermo for three weeks. I began to visit the Churches, and they calmed my impatience, though I did not attend any services. I knew nothing of the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament there. At last I got off in an orange boat, bound for Marseilles. Then it was that I wrote the lines, “Lead, Kindly Light”, which have since become well known. We were becalmed a whole week in the Straits of Bonifacio. I was writing verses the whole time of my passage.

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St John Henry Newman

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April 25, 2026

Medjugorje message, April 2026

• Dear children, I am praying for you and encourage you to a new life, a life in joy and prayer. May the Holy Spirit fill you, little children, with joy so that you may be like a spring of pure and drinkable water; that you, little children, may be in God and with God, missionaries of love and peace. Your life is short here on earth and that is why I am with you to lead you towards Heaven. Thank you for having responded to my call. (with Ecclesiastical approval)

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April 24, 2026

Feast of the Conversion of St Augustine of Hippo

• Now when deep reflection had drawn up out of the secret depths of my soul all my misery and had heaped it up before the sight of my heart, there arose a mighty storm, accompanied by a mighty rain of tears. That I might give way fully to my tears and lamentations, I stole away from Alypius, for it seemed to me that solitude was more appropriate for the business of weeping. 

I went far enough away that I could feel that even his presence was no restraint upon me. This was the way I felt at the time, and he realised it. I suppose I had said something before I started up and he noticed that the sound of my voice was choked with weeping. And so he stayed alone, where we had been sitting together, greatly astonished. 

I flung myself down under a fig tree – how I know not – and gave free course to my tears. The streams of my eyes gushed out an acceptable sacrifice to thee. And, not indeed in these words, but to this effect, I cried to thee: "And thou, O Lord, how long? How long, O Lord? Wilt thou be angry forever? Oh, remember not against us our former iniquities." For I felt that I was still enthralled by them. I sent up these sorrowful cries: "How long, how long? Tomorrow and tomorrow? Why not now? Why not this very hour make an end to my uncleanness?"

I was saying these things and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when suddenly I heard the voice of a boy or a girl I know not which--coming from the neighboring house, chanting over and over again, "Pick it up, read it; pick it up, read it."

Immediately I ceased weeping and began most earnestly to think whether it was usual for children in some kind of game to sing such a song, but I could not remember ever having heard the like. So, damming the torrent of my tears, I got to my feet, for I could not but think that this was a divine command to open the Bible and read the first passage I should light upon. 

For I had heard how Anthony, accidentally coming into church while the gospel was being read, received the admonition as if what was read had been addressed to him: "Go and sell what you have and give it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me." By such an oracle he was forthwith converted to thee. 

So I quickly returned to the bench where Alypius was sitting, for there I had put down the apostle's book when I had left there. I snatched it up, opened it, and in silence read the paragraph on which my eyes first fell: "Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof." 

I wanted to read no further, nor did I need to. Forinstantly, as the sentence ended, there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty and all the gloom of doubt vanished away.

St Augustine, Confessions

Translation: Albert C. Outler

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April 23, 2026

Medjugorje charter flights from Derry...

• City of Derry Airport has partnered with Marian Pilgrimages to offer charter flights direct to Mostar, the nearest airport to Medjugorje.

The first flight took off yesterday with additional charters booked for April 29 and May 6. 

The service is certain to boost interest in travelling to Medjugorje among people across the North West of Ireland.

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April 21, 2026

Grapes among thorns

• Don't gather grapes from thorns; after all it's impossible for grapes to be produced from thorns. But haven’t you noticed a vine shoot getting into a hedge as it grows, and entwining itself in the thorns, and putting forth buds among the thorns, and producing bunches of grapes?

You’re hungry, and you're walking past, and you see a bunch hanging among the thorns; you don’t do anything, you don’t pick it. You’re hungry and you want to pick it. Pick it then; stretch out your hand carefully and attentively; beware of the thorns, pick the fruit.

In the same way too, when a bad or worthless man speaks the teaching of Christ to you, listen to it, accept it, don’t ignore it. If he’s a bad man, the thorns are his; if he says good things, it’s that bunch hanging among the thorns, it isn’t growing from the thorns.

So then, if you’re hungry, pick it, but watch out for the thorns. You see, if you begin to imitate his deeds while gladly listening to him, you have been careless in stretching out your hand; you’ve encountered the thorns before reaching the fruit. You emerge wounded, you emerge scratched and torn.

The fruit coming from the grape is now no use to you, but the thorns, springing from their own proper root, are doing you damage. Notice, I mean, to avoid being misled, where you've picked the fruit from; it’s a vine branch.

Keep your eyes on the branch, and see how it belongs to the vine, comes from the vine, proceeds from the vine, but encounters the thorns. So the vine doesn’t have to draw back its branches, does it?

In the same way too the doctrine of Christ, as it has grown and made progress, has entwined itself with good trees, entwined itself with bad thorns. It is spoken by the good, spoken by the bad. It’s for you to notice where the fruit comes from, where what feeds you springs from, and where what pricks you springs from. They are mixed together in public appearance, but distinct from each other in their roots.

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St Augustine, (sermon 340A.1O)

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April 19, 2026

The sacrifice of atonement

• Be purified of sins and in Jesus, my Son, recognise the sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the entire world. May He be the meaning of your life...

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part message given to Mirjana, March 2, 2008

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• Propitiation is the act of appeasing or making well-disposed a deity, thus incurring divine favor or avoiding divine retribution. It is related to the idea of atonement… 

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Source: Wikipedia

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