Not nearly as amazing as Padraig's story of Medjugorje but you may be interested in one of my own (there are others). So let's share them to build our faith. On Good Friday 1989 in Medjugorje it was announced that the apparition would occur on Krizevac at (I think) 10:30. I was there with two friends and we climbed the mountain in good time (having fasted on bread and water for the day - not bragging - it's relevant to the story). Several hundred of us sang hymns and said the Rosary while awaiting the apparition. We were unable to find a place near the front of the cross and so went behind it where there were many fewer people. We understood, after some time, from applause on the other side of the cross, that the visionary(ies) had arrived - to my shame I don't remember which of the visionaries were there - but anyway, the apparition finally began. Everything fell silent except that I could hear a buzzing noise (which continued throughout the apparition) and was surprised to see a 'neon sign' suddenly appear on the cross (a series of vivid, large, horizontal, red, wavy lines moving alternately left and right just under the arms of the cross). I knew that neon made a buzzing noise when up close so that explained the noise but I had no idea what the neon sign meant and assumed that it had some local significance. At the end of the apparition, more hymns were sung and more rosaries said, then things broke up and the throng started to move down the mountain. I and my two friends had brought up a flask of coffee and some chocolate and, as it was now after midnight, we decided to break our fast on the mountain top. As we ate, sitting on the rocks below the cross, one of our group of three moved off to talk to others sitting nearby and I asked my remaining companion whether he knew what the neon sign was meant to signify. He said that he didn't know what I was talking about, I told him that he MUST have seen it as it was several feet high and in vivid red and was moving. He had no idea what I was talking about. I asked other people sitting nearby and they all said that they had not seen a neon sign. I was amazed and suspected then that I had received some sort of personal message but had absolutely no idea what it meant. (sorry - I really do not mean to leave you in suspense but this is going to take some time and I will have to continue tomorrow - it's taking longer than I anticipated)
To continue.... While walking down the mountain, we met up with the other member of our group, Kevin. I asked him if he had seen the 'neon sign' and he said that he had. He is an electrician and said that he was trying to work out how the such a sign was so bright and large without any noticeable cabling or generator. We could find no-one else who had seen it. The next day, I sought out our travel group leader who spent much of each year in Medj. and described what we had seen and asked if she had ever heard of this particulary sign. She had not but said, 'don't worry, you will know what it means maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not for weeks, months or years but you will find out exactly what it means'. I was eaten with curiousity and was hardly in a state to wait possibly years. Then she went on to ask if we had been to see Fr. Jozo during our visit and I said that we hadn't. She said, 'Oh, you really must go to his church, the last time I went he said to the pilgrims - where do you think that Aaron's rod is today? The rod that gave water to the Israelites, that parted the Red Sea? Of course, no-one answered but he kept asking them where they thought it might be. Finally he said - I have it, I have Aaron's rod and I am going to show it to you, people gasped. Then he drew out his Rosary and said, 'here it is, this is as powerful as Aaron's rod'. I thanked her for her time and went on my way. I carried on asking people througout the rest of the visit whether they had seen the 'sign' and no-one had and no-one could guess what it might mean. On the evening I arrived home, I managed to put two and two together, I had seen a representation of the Red Sea and this linked to the story that I was told by the group leader about Fr. Jozo and the power of the Rosary. I picked up the phone to tell Kevin that I had solved the mystery but he had beaten me to it, he had arrived home earlier than me and immediately picked up the bible and asked what the sign meant, he found himself reading about the crossing of the Red Sea! Mystery solved, though why Our Lady would tell us especially, when She tells everyone to say the Rosary, I really don't know. If others will share their Medj. stories, I will add a few more myself. (Deal?)
It's a deal Steve, though I think I am all told out with my Med Stories. Though I'll trade you a few good ones from other times and places. The Irish dearly love a good story . I must take yours to God in prayer it may have hidden depths, as of course all God's works have.
Padraig, are your stories here on the forum? I'd love to "hear" them, even though I'm not Irish. Steve, I'd love to hear more of your stories, too!
I have read one of your stories, Padraig, where do we find the others? Rosebud, I was hoping to exchange stories but, if we don't get any takers in a day or two, I'll write another one. I don't have many, let's hope there are some more out there.
That was beautiful SteveD. I appreciate you starting this thread. I would also love to hear about other apparition sites people have been to that changed their life. I will tell a story about Medj an then maybe start that thread. I TOO WOULD LIKE TO HEAR PADRAIG'S STORY. I had heard of Medjugorje when I was living in Germany. I went on a bus for $179....!! That was a lot for me in 1986. I was suffering from a chronic back problem and the doctor put me on Codine, Demoral and Valium. I had a 5 year old and a 1 year old at home and I KNEW in my heart I was pregnant. I went to him and said I cannot take these, I think I am pregnant. I took a test and it said I was not. BUT I KNEW I WAS! I couldn't even lift my 1 year old out of his crib and started taking the pills to be able to make it through the day. The guilt was killing me and I took them about a week. My husband told me I could not go on a bus in so much pain. I told my husband that I didn't care if I laid on the floor the whole way, I was going....Then the day before I left, I took another test and I found out I was pregnant. The guilt and fear overwhelmed me. What damage had I done??!! The minute I got on the bus I was completely out of pain. Never took one aspirin the whole trip.... The Sun spun after the apparition in the Rectory, I saw angels surrounding the whole crowd, our priest who had been three times already and had macular degeneration and was almost blind and had never seen the sun spin fell to his knees on the gravel in the parking lot and cried seeing the sun spin. I already told about the experience at the woman's home I stayed at in another thread. All in all, it was life changing. OF COURSE. When I came home my husband told me later he had never seen me so happy. Later, years later; he asked me if I was going to 'stay that way'...rofl Now----26 years later---yep, I'm gonna stay this way--like it or NOT!! While in Medjugorje I asked many holy people to pray over me for a healthy child. I begged the Blessed Mother to not let me harm this child with the pills I had taken and told her if I had a little girl I would name her Mary in Thanksgiving for the experience. Nine months later Mary was born. Beautiful, tons of dark hair and big blue eyes--just like the children at Medjugorje describe Our Lady. She has been a tough child. I can honestly say that I might have earned a few jewels in my crown with her! At 4 yrs. she saw Jesus during the Mass and described him to the Healing Priest after the Mass and the priest confirmed it. She saw her Angel at 10 years while brushing her hair in the bathroom. She almost fainted. It brought our family so much joy! During her teen years it was so bad she was given a trip to Medjugorje with an adult tour group by my mother hoping it would help. She emailed us pictures of her drinking beer with the ENTIRE alter boy group and their dads from Luxembourg --they had never met an American girl and they spoke English. She walked out on Fr. Jozo's talk because she said she didn't agree with him on some issues...AT 15!! I now have to laugh because she has come a long way at 26 yrs. old now. I know she is consecrated to our Lady in a special way and that gives me peace. We never know about our Children do we?
I like reAding your testimonies. I have been to medj. 10 times and never seen a thing, nada! I'm not looking to see but I sometimes wonder why. Still I figure if I was reAlly upsetting our lady she would let me know. Maybe it would be bad for me and feed my pride and vanity. Ms7 Ivan relate to your story about your daughter with special experiences as I too have such a daughter. she is suffering much at the moment . Please pray for her. Mary
It was a series of vivid, large, horizontal, red, wavy lines moving alternately left and right just under the arms of the cross (which we eventually worked out out represented the Red Sea (not very bright was I) and, by linking this to the story of Fr. Jozo's homily it meant 'Say the Rosary'. The buzzing sound associated with the sign was a mystery until I remembered that a relation of the Fatima visionaries said that when Our Lady spoke, it sounded to him like a 'bee in a bottle'. So I suppose I can claim that I have heard Our Lady speak (at a stretch!).
I think often at the start of apparitions it is often hard for people to hear,see or smell too clearly however when they pray people see and understand more clearly. A good example of this was Francisco at Fatima who could not hear Our Lady until he did as she told him and said the rosary. I think we have to tune in to understand. It is the same thing in a way in normal life ; someone can be talking away to us but if we are not tuned in it goes over our heads. I spent most of my school years like this.
I have told out my Med Stories but there was one small thing I noticed there and I wonder if anyone else saw it? Standing on the top of Apparition Hill as night came down I saw over and over again these little lights high up in the sky ;at one time there were about seven of them heading away from the village. I don't think they were aircraft really. They were kinda erratic in their flight. I decided they were angels. Who knows?
Mystery Lights at Medj. - On my second visit, again on Krizevac on Good Friday night, just prior to an apparition, we noticed that everytime one of us took a photo, we saw (only in the viewfinder and only during the flash of the camera) several hundred points of light around the cross. It was absolutely freezing so I guess it wasn't flying insects and anyway they all seemed to be totally still and very near to the cross. We decided that they were angels wating for their Queen to arrive, (maybe our own Guardian Angels having a get-together?). Nice to be near so many at the same time!
Had a lump in my throat reading Mothersuperior's experience. Anyway, here goes with my second story. I had just got home from Medjugorje after an Easter trip. I and two friends had been and had prayed the Rosary most of the way home from the airport in my car (a three hour drive). My wife offered to cook me a meal when I arrived but it was late evening and I didn't want to put her to the bother so I said that I would go and buy a takeaway. She said that she would go for it because I had been travelling all day (she is a sweetie). So she drove and I went as a passenger. We parked under one of several mature trees in the street, a few yards behind another car and beside houses that were set a long way back from the road. The street was totally quiet. My wife went to get the food and I sat in the car. I turned the radio on and listened to some music for a while but then thought, I shouldn't be wasting time listening to music, I should be praying. So I turned the radio off and only managed to get the words "Our Father...." out when 'all hell broke loose'. There was a massive shower of stones from above the car, the sound was like thunder and hundreds of stones poured down the windscreen and off the front of the car. I was stunned and assumed that someone had done the pouring but couldn't work out who (no-one about) or how (they were coming from above). Just as I was recovering from the shock, I saw a big white stone hurtling towards the windscreen, it seemed to have appeared out of the back of the car parked in front of me which was empty, I ducked. I waited for the smashing of the windscreen but instead I heard a thud, I raised myself and saw that the windscreen had turned white. My wife was approaching the car by this time but I couldn't see her, she saw that the windscreen was completely covered in something and wondered what was going on. When she opened the door I shouted, 'Get in, we are under attack'. She got in and turned on the wipers - the windscreen was covered in egg! We drove off fast and I told her what had happened, she said 'but there was no-one about' and then said, 'this has something to do with where you have been'. When we arrived home, I got out expecting to see hundreds of dents in the roof - nothing. The egg was real enough, it took some cleaning off the next day. There had once been a monastery in the area and I read later that there were many stories of the monks being troubled by showers of black stones falling from the sky when they prayed in the grounds. I also read that the Jews believe that trees can harbour evil spirits and this was confirmed to me by a former Satanist (now Chrisitian) who said that he had actually seen such spirits in trees. Anyway, I believe that I had disturbed something and that the many Rosaries said in the car just shortly before might have been the cause. I sometimes drive past the same point and always say a prayer (but am ready to duck!)
Well this isn't about Medugorje but still.. When I was about 12 year old a Passionist priest, an exorcist told me this, since I did not witness it myself I cannot stand over it; but I do bleieve it to be quite true. in a parish in England lived a lady of mature years, on her own, very devout. She was a daily mass goer and when she did not turn up to Church for a week or two the priest went round to her house to find out if she was sick... She opened the door very reluctantly to him and this was unusual, visiting clergy being treated by this pious lady as royalty. Again another unusual thing this lady was usually groomed like a Princess but now was very dishevelled or even dirty. However the house when he finally got in was a horror picture, like a midden. One of the things he told me saw was that she had been eating cold beans straight form the tins, with her hands and the used tins were lying about the floor. This from a lady her kept her house like a palace. Upon enquiry she just said she felt unable to go to Church and after a lot of persuation accepted that the priest would bring round communion. So it happened but just as the priest was about to place the communion on her tongue she shouted at him in a very loud masculine voice , strong enough to raise the roof: 'Take that f**king thing away from me' I am still surprised the poor man did not die of heart failure. Anyhow to cut a long story short she was possessed and exorcised successfully. One of the demons had a most peculiar name , I think it began with , 'V' something like' Vervaine'. However the interesting thig was that the other demons were her uncles and aunts (then in hell of course). These were Satanists who had performed a Satanic baptism dedicated the lady to Satan when she was a baby..and of course she knew nothing at all about it....
I though that we would have had dozens of stories by now - anyway I'm determined to keep this thread 'live' until I run out of stories at least (which won't be long now, so come on!). A short one for you but I hope that you will enjoy it. I was two or three days away from my second trip to Medj. The first time I had been there, I hadn't really planned what I was going to do when I arrived in the village, I just took things as they came. This time, I decided that I would make a plan of what I was going to do and where I was going to go and when I was going to do it. I went and found a notepad and pen and sat in the lounge with my wife who was watching TV. I considered what I should do first in Medj. and I think I got as far as writing "Day 1. morning - Confession..." when it happened. The room was filled with the smell of a thousand roses, it was the most beautiful, intense smell that I have ever experienced and I was momentarily stunned. I looked up from the notebook to see my wife staring at me with wide open eyes and a puzzled expression, we didn't speak for a moment or two and then she said "What's happening?" and I answered, "I think the Our Lady has just given me a pat on the head!" ('Who am I that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?' as St. Elizabeth said)
