TO THE DETRACTORS OF MEDJUGORJE
To all doubters and detractors of Medjugorje,
I urge you to wake up to what is happening there.
Medjugorje my friends is a great gift from God and His call to Holiness
Our Mothers message to the whole world on 25th July 1987:- 'I beseech you to take up the way of holiness, God cannot have less than a Holy People; be Holy as I am Holy'.
Our Mother asks us every day to study the Scriptures. They are a means to have 'His Holy People'.
Medjugorje is a massive aid to make us all 'That Holy People'.
This great gift from God of Mary's presence in Medjugorje is such an impulse to Holiness that it makes us all want to return to Jesus and His Church, to 'Seek Holiness' to decide for God, decide for holiness. Without holiness no one shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). I have been blessed with the opportunity to lead the Welsh Pilgrimage to Medjugorje and have been there 51 times. Each visit has been unique and memorable in my own personal journey of faith. We are sometimes called a pilgrim people because we are all travelling along the road of life to our destination with God Our Father. Our own search for holiness and happiness is really a search for God, and only God can fulfil our dreams. We can only be certain of reaching holiness, happiness, and peace in our lives if we travel along life’s pilgrim road of faith together with God.
Many Graces and Blessings Received
Many who have joined our Pilgrimage to Medjugorje have enjoyed experiences of inner peace, tranquillity and a feeling of belonging, cleansing, conversion and healing. Very few people leave Medjugorje without experiencing spiritual regeneration and dramatic and lasting changes in their lives. I cannot hope to capture in words what I and many others have experienced in Medjugorje. Words failed St. Paul and other evangelists, but the words that give me a sense of Christian authenticity regarding Medjugorje are these, 'By their fruits you shall know them'
(Mathew 7:20) and 'Taste and See that the Lord is Good'
(Psalm 34:8).
Whatever preconceived ideas people and priests may have about the apparitions at Medjugorje, they are in my view, just those, preconceived! My own encounter with this great oasis of peace, happiness, love and repentance, with its visionaries, villagers, priests and pilgrims has been grace filled and uplifting. I have been changed for the better. Mary presents herself as both the the Servant and Messenger of God. The message she brings does not convey any new teachings but echoes those of the Gospel and the Church. The basic message of Medjugorje is:
PEACE through commitment to God. PRAYER Holy Mass and the Eucharist. CONVERSION repentance and fasting.
This is God’s merciful call echoing all the time in Medjugorje. He loves us and wants us all to be happy with Him for all eternity. I really do hope and trust that all doubters and detractors will lay aside their years of disinterest in Medjugorje and choose to go and see for yourself.
Wonderful News
The Papal Envoy to Medjugorje Archbishop Henryk Hoser (8th Dec 2017). Today dioceses and other institutions can organize official pilgrimages to Medjugorje. Pope Francis
has said ' I am full of admiration for the work the Franciscans are doing In Medjugorje they do a huge job of welcoming pilgrims. Every summer they organise a youth festival where over 50,000 young people come from all over the world with more than 700 priests there. There is a massive number of confessions, They have over 50 confessionals which are not enough. These are very deep confessions'.
This is a phenomenon and what confirms the authenticity of the place is the large amount of charitable institutions that exist around the sanctuary. Henrkyk Hoser
said 'what I find touching is that all the seers have turned to family life – In our day and age the family is of enormous importance – all of them have a family and those who were teenagers at the time of the apparitions are already grandmothers. 37 years have now passed'!
At Medjugorje our Blessed Mother is leading all her children back to her son Jesus. The greatest events in the Bible connected to God are periods of 40 days or years. If these apparitions continue to June 24th 2021 It will be 40 years that our Blessed Mother has descended from her Heavenly throne to this village. This will have God’s seal of approval on them. This outcome will be the same as God leading the Jews through the desert to the promised land for 40 years. This will be the beginning of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Era of Peace. This is not the end of Time, it is the end of satan’s time.
Mary's greatest truimph will be in leading all her children back home and restoring us all to God our Father. Mary was the first child of God to offer her YES to the Father. By guiding all her children to offer their YES, she truly crushes the head of the serpent who seduced mankind into disobedience and exile. Because of this woman my friends, the children of God will once again, as it was in the beginning of time, dwell with Him in Paradise.
When Mary chose the village of Medjugorje she said 'I have found true believers'.
The only wealth these families had was Jesus. Mary said 'I desire to take you by the hand and walk with you in the battle against the evil one. God doesn’t want anything else for you, only your surrender – PRAY and do that which the Holy Spirit is telling you to do'.
Mary is perfect holiness and she wants to give all her children on Earth God’s greatest gift to Her. - HOLINESS.
By Philip Illsley





