MEDJUGORJE MIRACLES -- JOELLE BEURET-DEVANTHERY

[This testimony appears on many sites about Medjugorje, including www.crownofstars.blogspot.com, in an article by Christine Watkins to be found at www.medjugorjemiracles.com and on www.medjugorje.ws. On this latter site, the testimony is by Christiane Claessens  but it relates to Joelle Beuret-Devanthery. I have included a letter by Joelle herself. I have slightly edited this material, obviously translated into English from another language]:

On Saturday, 16 October 2010, 46 people, mostly from the parish of St Frances de Sales and St Terese, began their private pilgrimage to Medjugorje. It was our twentieth private pilgrimage,  at the time when we remembered the twentieth anniversary of forming the prayer group of Mary, Queen of Peace. For our group, it was a wonderful opportunity to thank the Lord, since Mary took each one of us by our hand and guided us, despite all of the difficulties we had throughout these last twenty years. Indeed, Satan cannot stand the Virgin Mary and he therefore hates prayer groups She desires to be founded in every parish. Through God’s grace, we remained faithful and we used to gather every Monday for prayer, meditation of Christ’s life, all accompanied with the messages that Mary gave and continues to give in Medjugorje.

We spent two days in the bus praying and introducing ourselves to the events that have taken place in Medjugorje from 1981 to today. It was Sunday evening, around 8:00 pm when we arrived in Medjugorje. On Monday 18 October, even though it was raining, with great joy in our hearts, we climbed the slippery pathway that leads to Apparition Hill. We were all helping one another. Joelle, a completely blind 50-year-old woman was among the pilgrims, together with her daughter Vinciane, as well as their modest and cheerful friend Claudia, who followed Joelle everywhere with such love and gentleness. Joelle was so happy, she seemed as if she were floating over the rocky pathway. As she arrived at the site of the apparitions, right under the statue of Our Lady, she said a beautiful prayer full of love and trust to our heavenly Mother. The whole group stayed for around twenty minutes in silence on the hill and descended together so they would meet again in the church around 5:00 pm for the evening prayer programme. That is where Joelle felt something strange; she felt as if there was a hand choking her and it was exactly at the time she was receiving Holy Communion. She heard some criticising voice telling her: You wanted to have a child, you got your daughter. You asked for a job, you got one. It is enough now, are you finally going to shut up? When it is cold, you have a nice, warm apartment, when you are hungry, you always have something to eat, when it snows, you always have warm clothes. Are you finally going to stop now and forever? It is really enough! Joelle seemed to be very disturbed and she spoke to Fr. Fabian that same evening. He told her that it is only God in the host and He wants us only good, and that could not be coming from God. He told her to pray to God, to pray to Him that she is able to fulfil His will. That seemed to calm her down.

On the following day, 19 October, we decided to pray the Way of  the Cross, all the way to the top of Cross Mountain. Elderly people and Joelle prayed the Way of the Cross with Fr. Olivier down in the valley, while the rest of the group in light rain, and on a steeper and more difficult pathway than the previous day, climbed their way to the top of the mountain. We stopped and prayed before every station, we prayed long and for all of our intentions. Luc suggested to us that we unite ourselves in the prayer with that smaller group of our pilgrims who could not come and climb with us. In a special way that we present this Way of the Cross for Joelle, to pray for special graces for her, why not even to pray for healing, for nothing is impossible to our God? It was a very intensive Way of the Cross; it was a profound prayer in which we meditated upon Christ’s suffering that He suffered for all our sins. Prayer lasted from 9:00 am until 3:00 pm. Again, we all met in the church at 5:00 pm for evening prayer programme.

That is where the great miracle took place. At the moment when Joelle received the Holy Eucharist, she was able to see the priest with his white alb. She was surprised, she looked up and saw lamps, the high ceiling of the church, the stained glass windows… It was as if she were thrown out of her black covering. She was not feeling good at all, and she said to Claudia who stood next to her:  “Please take me out of here. I am not feeling good.” As they walked out of the church, she said: “I can see the light!” They continued their way to the sacristy and Fr. Oliver was on his way out, asking them:  “What are the two of you doing here?”  Joelle replied, saying: “I can see!” He was deeply touched with what happened and suggested the two of them go back to the church; the third part of the Rosary was just finishing. As people were coming out of the church, we all surrounded Joelle. Our priest, a true, genuine shepherd, suggested to her to thank the Lord, so they went together towards the steps in front of the main altar; they knelt down and thanked God for that great gift He had just given to her. That gesture reminded us of the Gospel extract where Jesus healed ten lepers and only one came back to thank Him. Afterwards we went towards the statue of Our Lady so we would thank Her as well for Her intercession. At the end, we came back to our pension. A couple of women from Italy and some pilgrims from Plymouth told us  they were behind Joelle as she was receiving Holy Communion and they could all strongly smell the scent of roses radiating from her. Joelle told us how that scent followed her for days and she can still smell it. Vinciane, who was at the Mass, came back to the pension in the meantime and did not know anything about the grace her mother had received. We also need to emphasise that Joelle had never seen her daughter, since she had been blind for the last 42 years.

Fr. Olivier, full of joy, ran back to the pension and invited all the people to come down to the lobby because he wanted to share the good news with them. When Joelle came in, all of the pilgrims were already gathered. Joelle saw her daughter and told her: “You washed your hair?” Vinciane, not noticing anything different, just said, “I did.” She asked “Why is it that we all had to come down here?” Joelle said, “Can’t you see any change in me?” Vinciane looked again, and said, “No.” “Look better,” her mum told her and Vinciane shouted with joy, “You can see!”

It was really a breathtaking moment. They ran to one another and remained in each other’s arms for about five minutes. Vinciane told us afterwards that she constantly prayed that her mother would receive her sight back and she even said to Mary that she was not planning to leave until her mother was able to see again.

What a wonderful faith. Mary hears weeps and cries of Her children. The whole group was so happy and praised  the Lord and His Mother with their prayer and song. Although it was already around 10:00 pm we all went towards the blue cross, together with Joelle, to the place where Our Lady appears regularly to Ivan and Mirjana.

I cannot hide the profound joy we all feel; joy for having received such a precious sign that Mary gave to us for the twentieth anniversary of our prayer group. That is indeed a sign that She, Our Mother, gives to us, a sign that helps us to persevere in the future.

Mary is leading us; She is strengthening us, holding us by our hands. She loves us and She wants her messages to be spread through the prayer groups that we are to form. Whenever we go on pilgrimage to Medjugorje we are going to Mary’s school and through that school She is going to lead us to Her Son, Jesus.

With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26).

Christine Claessens

[The following is a transcript of Joelle’s letter to her friends]:

Dear Friends

I would like to share with you what happened after my healing on 19 October 2010 in Medjugorje. When I walked out of the church in Medjugorje on that first evening, I was able to see the light, faces of the people; I could see how their lips and eyes were moving. As days passed by, my sight was improving gradually. Today, I only thank my Lord for not having healed me at once, suddenly; I wouldn’t be able to take that. On the way back to Switzerland, as we drove in the bus I was able to see some kind of “messy trees.” My friend Claudia told me to tell her if I happened to see something like that again. A few minutes passed by, the bus continued its drive and finally I was able to see “messy trees” again. It turned out those were palm trees, Claudia told me. Imagine how you would feel if you woke up after 42 years. Nothing is as it was before. My friends from the prayer group are wonderful to me. They are giving me strength for this new awakening, for looking into the Light.

When I returned to Switzerland, I got to know anew my two brothers, my sister, and my parents. When it gets dark, that becomes resting time for me. Life starts to look as it was before. I do not stop with my prayers to Jesus and Mary. It was my parents through whom I started loving Jesus and Mary and I passed the same love towards my daughter Vinciane, who was in Medjugorje with me.

In those first days, as I looked at high buildings in Lausanne, buildings with more than ten floors, I would be sick all the time. I was sweating and felt like vomiting. I didn’t feel like going out at all because I would have to look at those high buildings. The same was with the people; every encounter was making me nervous and uncomfortable. Whatever happens, I am not losing my faith for if Jesus through Mary gave me back my sight, I am positive He will give me strength to bear difficulties that are accompanying my healing.

Faith, patience, courage and trust are those kind signs and I am holding onto in my life. I am sure that Jesus always completes His work, He who does it all in kindness and in a discrete way.

Today I am able to differentiate the colours. I can see huge objects like houses, trees, green gardens, cars; I can see our car, stairs, the sun and people. I came back to work and I am able to do all house work much more easily. Vinciane rejoices at this change that happened to her mother and says we have God’s peace in our home. I remain with you in prayer.

Joelle Beuret-Devanthery

Lausanne, November 19, 2010

P.S. Something that will help you understand what I am going through:

People always told me that I was lucky because I could not see this ugly and grey world. They told me that people are miserable. I imagined that the earth was grey, that people are like some grey sticks, that the sun is shining through thick layer of fog, that even the water we drink is grey and blurry.

Imagine how I was surprised when I discovered our beautiful and colourful nature, smiling people, the beautiful sun on the blue sky, all full of order and kindness. Praised be Thee, my God.

I would imagine that people are crushed like fish in a can while they stand on the station platform and that used to wear me down completely. Today, I can save fifteen minutes every day because I can find my way through the people much faster and I am able to get everywhere faster. Thank you, Mary.

Those unfaithful Thomases from my surroundings were saying how something like this is not possible. Few days later they called me and told me how they can recognise God’s work in this miracle.

And I could tell you many other things, but it would all be too long.

They performed some minor tests already. I can see the light with my left eye, with my right even better. On 08 December 2010 I am to have another test in Basel with a professor of ophthalmology. I will write to you again. Let us remain united in prayer, thanking Mary, Queen of Peace and Her Son Jesus who said: you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven unless you become like the children.  This healing gave me the soul of a child, the look of a child who went from the night into the Light. Lord, everything is form You. Everything is for our happiness and everything comes back to You.

MEDJUGORJE MIRACLES -- DOMINIK JUROS

[This article has been extracted from www.medjugorjemiracles.com and was apparently circulated by Sr. Emmanuel Maillard. It is an article by Christine Watkins, an inspirational speaker and author of Full of Grace:Miraculous Stories of Healing and Conversion through Mary’s Intercession. I have only slighted edited it]:

A surprising event took place in Medjugorje on 03 August. [I am not sure which year this is but the article appeared in Sr. Emmanuel’s Medjugorje September 2010 newsletter]. Since the articles on the Internet about the events spread many errors, I wanted to make a serious inquiry before writing about it. So, below I have written the facts as I received them from Dominik’s family.

Dominik Juros, a young Slovakian of 16, born to a Catholic family from the village of Hran, came to the Youth Festival this summer with other young people from his area. During the preceding months, Dominik went through a period of inner rebellion, mostly concerning faith. He no longer wanted to serve at Mass as an altar boy and he refused to pray with his parents.

Although this group had signed up for a pilgrimage, they were not really interested in the Youth Festival or in God in general. They behaved more like tourists on vacation.

On 03 August, the heat was extreme in Medjugorje. The group decided to go swimming at the waterfalls of Kravica with Janko, their guide, rather than follow the program of the festival. Dominik slipped into the icy water and sank nine or ten feet. He managed to surface several times but no-one noticed that he was drowning. Instead, people around him thought he was playing a game. Ten minutes later, Janko began to worry because he could no longer see him. So he swam to the spot where he had last seen him.

With the help of a few people, Janko was able to pull Dominik out of the water. But his heart had stopped. It took 15 to 20 minutes of resuscitation to make it beat again but on the way to Mostar’s hospital, his heart stopped beating again. His lungs no longer worked. At the hospital Dominik was put into an induced coma and his vital bodily functions were taken over by medical devices.

The next day, his parents rushed from Slovakia to Mostar. After hearing what had happened, all the young people at the festival started praying fervently for him and this beautiful chain of love continued day and night. Even Dominik’s bus companions suddenly seized by the fear of God, started to pray. Each went to Confession and they attended Mass with great piety.

On 05 August, surrounded by his family and with a lot of prayers, Dominik showed unexpected signs of awareness. Although unconscious, he would press his mother’s hand or shed tears. He woke up on 07 August and his organs revived. His first reaction was to cry, begging his parents to forgive him. He grabbed the hand of his mother and asked her to pray with him and to pray a lot. He wanted to confess his sins so they asked a priest to come. He was then transferred to a hospital in Slovakia where he began walking and talking freely. Four weeks later, he was back in school. His Slovakian doctor reports that Dominik’s recovery is shocking, considering what he endured.

Dominik shared some interesting aspects of his experience. For instance, although unconscious at the time, when he was taken out of the water, he saw his parents in Slovakia sitting in front of the television and he knew what they were doing and where they were going. On 08 August according to people present and his own words, he became hypersensitive, felt intense inner struggles and had unusual perceptions.

According to Dominik, while he was between life and death, he felt threatened by “dark figures” present in the hospital, some standing at the door and others causing havoc in the room, accusing him. These figures were constantly trying to prevent his mother from praying at his bedside. Dominik’s face lit up when he felt the presence of a person full of light, peace and joy, who he thinks was the Blessed Mother. When someone entered his room carrying some water, he knew that it was holy water and thought Oh, blessed water. That will help me now.  He said he could perceive the prayers of his family as peaceful, positive, very helpful and full of life.

Dominik was able to see Purgatory. There he saw two young people, from a neighbouring town suffering. He saw that they had burned a car and later were killed in an accident. He saw angels, splendid beings dressed in white, with beautiful faces. He said he saw Jesus face to face and said that Jesus had the most beautiful eyes. When the family was praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy at his bedside, he asked them, “Can you smell that wonderful fragrance?” “What fragrance?” his mother asked. “The blood of Jesus,” he answered, “it has a wonderful fragrance.” 

There are many details to the story that will not fit here, however it is important to note that Dominik’s mother consecrated him to Our Lady at his conception.

Dominick often repeated that we should love each other and forgive one another; that love is the most important thing in life. He insistently asked members of his family to treat each other with much more love, even in the smallest things, and to always forgive and to have no enemies. With his short, but sweet taste of Heaven, Dominik regretted that the medical team had saved his life.

We know that normally, after a few minutes under water, the brain is damaged for lack of oxygen. But in Dominik’s case, only God knows whether it is, medically, a miracle. This is of little importance. What is beautiful in this event, is that it happened when 40,000 youth of the festival were praying in Medjugorje. The Lord used this teenager, going through a crisis, to put all his friends on their knees (those present in Medjugorje and those in Slovakia) to inspire them to go to Confession and to turn their hearts to God. Moreover, to some of those kids who put earthly things in the first place of their life, and who thought they could make it without God, Dominik’s experience revealed another world, other values, and reminded them of the most vital commandment of Jesus: Love one another as I have loved you.

Dominik does not remember everything, but the effect of grace is very obvious in his life. He has turned into a young man who today pray’s profoundly, who lives his faith with fervour and who happily joins his parents and family in prayer. He shows great reverence for the Cross of Jesus and for Our Lady. All his relatives are grateful for what the mercy of God did for him. Even his grandfather, a former obstinate opponent of Medjugorje, now wants to come. Magnificat!

MEDJUGORJE MIRACLES -- JOSHUA DE NICOLO

[The following article is by Jakob Marshner. I picked it up from www.kath.net but the story of the subject boy, Joshua de Nicolo appears on many websites and he has made a number of television appearances. Obviously translated into English, it has been only slighted edited by me]:

For eight months, two-year-old Joshua battled a last stage cancer with a transplantation, 80 chemotherapy and 17 radiotherapy sessions. When nothing worked, his parents took him to Medjugorje.

Back home, tests showed 19 tumours and all bone metastases to be gone as the beginning of Joshua’s complete recovery.

Before he turned three, Joshua had experienced more hardships, drama and obvious grace than many people do in a lifetime.

The boy from Putignano in southern Italy was born with an undiscovered neuroblastoma, the most common form of infancy cancer, in February 2007. It took 22 months of his true condition to be found, in January 2009 when the illness had progress to its last stage, 4D, where long-term survival rates are poor, despite aggressive multimodal therapy.

Doctors gave Joshua only days or weeks to live when his parents took him to Medjugorje in June 2009. Just before departure, the boy’s white blood cell numbers dramatically improved and he immediately felt well in Medjugorje, his parents testify. Joshua felt even better after Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo’s apparition on 02 July 2009 when he was placed beside the visionary. After that, he seemed relieved from pain.

Upon the family’s return to Italy, clinical tests showed that Joshua’s bone metastases as well as 19 tumours spread throughout the body had disappeared. The only remaining tumour had been reduced in size from 7.5 to 3 centimetres, enabling doctors to remove it altogether. Since this operation took place, in November 2009, Joshua has been completely healed.

Joshua’s parents, Elizabeth and Manuel de Nicolo, have witnessed their son’s illness and healing.

Early symptoms were misdiagnosed

Joshua was born with one eye half closed, and his head tilting to the left. Several doctors told the couple it was nothing serious, Elizabeth attested in an article carried by the Italian blog Quotidinamente. Likewise, the boy was initially misdiagnosed when a ball no bigger than a kernel appeared on his left temple where doctors saw it and judged it non-malignant.

It was not, and it was far from it, as shown when Elizabeth and Manuel took their son for more thorough tests at the hospital in San Giovanni Rotondo by the shrine of Saint Padre Pio.

“After the CT scan,” Elizabeth tells, “the primary oncologist Dr Xavier Ladogana told us that Joshua was suffering from mediastinal neuroblastoma in the fourth stage, D, and that the tumour was attached to the pelvic bone, the bone marrow, the bones of the skull, the back of the left eye and the lymph nodes of the neck, penetrating the left side of the brain and that this, unfortunately, explained Joshua’s head tilt since birth.” 

A total of 22 tumours were found, according to her husband’s testimony.

“We immediately started a medical treatment attack, a veritable bombardment with chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and a transplantation,” Elizabeth tells, her husband counting 80 chemotherapy and 17 radiotherapy sessions.

“Nonetheless, the doctors gave our son little hope of survival” Manuel remembers. ‘It seemed to be a matter of weeks or maybe days.” 

Cultural Christians in search of a hope

While neither of the parents were practising Christians, it was in this direction they looked when little hope was left in June 2009. The couple say they felt directed all the way to Medjugorje and beyond. On their way, they experienced several signs.

“In the blackest desperation,” Manuel tells, “we thought of bringing Joshua to Lourdes. It was the only Marian shrine I knew. But one day while we were in San Giovanni Rotondo, in a moment of desperation, I went into the crypt of Padre Pio and asked him straight to his face:  Why my child? Give me a sign to restore my hope.

“Then I went back to the hospital and as I walked down the corridor of the ward, I suddenly saw an open computer with the Madonna’s face as background image. It was like a flash that deeply troubled me. When I entered the room, I found Elizabeth who told me that Joshua had not wanted to sleep but had found serenity and calm with some Marian songs and had fallen asleep.”

“They were songs dedicated to Our Lady of Medjugorje.”

Journey into unknown land

Prior to June, 2009, Elizabeth and Manuel had never heard about the Virgin Mary’s apparitions in Medjugorje.

“We did not even know of the existence of a village called Medjugorje,” Joshua’s father testifies, “but Our Lady called us there and we immediately received another sign. Among the magazines scattered in hospital waiting rooms, there was a special edition of the magazine Oggi about the Virgin appearing to six local people since 1981 and miracles of healing. After reading this article, we decided to leave immediately.” 

But Joshua was weak and obstacle seemed to come on top of obstacle.

“The doctors advised us against this trip because Joshua had very low white blood cell numbers, about 5,000 but we were very determined,” Manuel says. “And on the day we left, our son’s blood cell number went up to 160,000.”

“Already in this, I saw the first miracle. The child could not face the journey in these conditions. But the rise of his white blood cell numbers in a very short time was a first sign,” Elizabeth said live on major Italian TV channel RaiUno on February 28th 2010.

In front of the Madonna

From early on, Joshua felt well in Medjugorje. His parents noted a difference almost from the moment he first set foot in the village:

“Once in Medjugorje,” Manuel testifies, “we only just got off the bus when Joshua seemed to be mysteriously but strongly attracted to this holy place. As a result of the tumours the child could hardly walk anymore. But he seemed to get better.”

Meeting the converted Italian journalist and TV personality Paolo Brosio paved the way for Joshua to be placed next to the visionary, right in front of the Virgin Mary during Mirjana Dragicevic-Soldo’s apparition on July 2nd.

“After the apparition,” his father tells, “to our surprise, Joshua began to feel even better and he did not seem to experience pain anymore.” 

“But we had the biggest surprise when we came home.”

Doctor: Joshua’s healing is miraculous

Elizabeth Manuel returned to the hospital at San Giovanni Rotondo finding doctors who could not explain what they saw:

“The clinical tests underlined the fact that 19 tumours spread throughout the body had disappeared, and the bone metastases were completely healed,” Manuel tells.  “Only behind the lung, a neuroblastoma had remained but the size of the tumour had been reduced from 7.5 to 3 centimetres.”

“The doctor told us that Joshua was miraculously healed.” And Dr Xavier Ladogana, the director of the oncological department went further: What happened to your child is scientifically inexplicable. With the resources and knowledge we have at our disposal, we cannot give an accurate and incontestable medical explanation. We can only say that the child no longer has the same disease he had before the pilgrimage. 

Joshua has more mystical experiences

The decrease in size of Joshua’s last remaining tumour allowed doctors to operate. This took place on 17 November 2009.

“The surgery was fully successful,” Manual says, “and the doctors even said that this was, in a sense, itself a miracle because it was so inexplicable. The operation lasted less tan one hour and was expected to last four to six hours.”

“After the surgery the child had to spend several days in intensive care, and actually spent less than half an hour because he woke up immediately and began to breathe without problems, far beyond the most optimistic forecasts. For us, this intervention was a second miracle.”

“Upon awakening from the operation,” Elizabeth testifies, “he told me that he had been in Heaven with Jesus and that he had received a big, great gift, the gift of life.”

One year after their first visit, the family returned to Medjugorje to give thanks. For Joshua that meant one more unusual experience.

“After twelve months we returned with a cured child,” Elizabeth says.

“There I saw Joshua lift up his eyes and smile. I knew something special was taking place. When I asked him why, he smiled and looked at the sky and said Have a peaceful and joyful Christmas. He told me he was seeing the Madonna and beside her was Padro Pio who was smiling at him.”

“We are sure that the saint of Pietrelcina is the guardian angel of our son who protected him from the beginning of this ordeal and will continue to watch  over him forever.”

MEDJUGORJE MIRACLES -- JILL JENSEN

[The following has been extracted from an article which appears at www.unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com but the subject, Jill Jensen has been written about on many other sites]:

Jill Jensen grew up in an upper middle class neighbourhood in Chicago. When she was a teenager, she had been a model but also fell into drug experimentation. Her casual habit soon grew into a $500 a day cocaine addiction. She went to several rehabs, but none had been successful. 

In 1988 Jill’s aunt went to Medjugorje and when she returned she urged Jill to come with her. The following year she went but had doubts about its effectiveness, particularly as her body was riddled with sores as a result of intense scratching, since many users experience sensations of insects crawling over them. 

When she arrived she met with a European priest. For over an hour, she confessed about her drug habit. The priest put holy water on Jill’s sores and within a few days, the sores were gone and she didn’t experience any withdrawal. Jill then met with one of the visionaries, who prayed over Jill. Jill has not used drugs since then. She has spoken around the country (USA) to large groups schools and churches about the experiences and continues to share her story in hopes of teaching others about the dangers of drug addiction.

MEDJUGORJE MIRACLES -- STEPHEN REILLY

[The story of Stephen Reilly appears at various websites, including www.connachttribune.ie and www.irishcentral.com]:

A brave Galway boy celebrated his eleventh birthday last week — two years after his family was told that he had lost his battle with cancer.

But Stephen Reilly’s 2013 trip to Medjugorje turned out to be a miraculous one — because he was pronounced cancer-free two months ago.

Stephen, from Eyrecourt, was diagnosed with bone cancer at the age of six, which spread to his lungs and lymph nodes — and Stephen lost one of his legs.

The lowest point was on New Year’s Eve 2012, when the family ended up in Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, to be told that the cancer had returned.

“After two days of tests the doctors told us that the cancer had spread to his lungs and lymph nodes and that there was no more that they could do,” says Stephen’s father, Michael.

But the family had already booked the pilgrimage and went ahead with it anyway — and while the Reilly’s were out there, Michael says a couple of strange things happened.

Stephen saw a statue of Our Lady move; Michael himself saw what might be described as the impression of a giant hand over his son’s head — and more critically, just two days after getting back he had scans which showed a slight improvement.

Over the next few months he went from strength to strength, and in July of that year, the Galway Hospice took him off their books.

Michael believes that this is down to a miracle in which Medjugorje —  the town where Our Lady appeared to six local children in 1981 — played its part.

And last month Stephen and his dad Michael made a return trip to the pilgrimage mountain, where Stephen was determined to make the climb unaided.

“I only carried him through a really hard part and the ramp to the cross at the top,” says a proud Michael of his courageous son.

[This report appeared in the Connacht Tribune].

MEDJUGORJE MIRACLES -- DR DARINKA GLAMUZINA

[Prior to 29 June 1981, Dr Darinka Glamuzina was an atheist or at least an agnostic. She was sent by the then Communist Medical Committee of Citluk, in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with the clinic’s head on that day, the sixth day of the apparitions, to be present on what we now call Apparition Hill for the visionaries’ alleged encounter with the Blessed Virgin Mary with a view to exposing a fraud. She came away not only declining to certify the event as such but changing her life forever and becoming a practising Roman Catholic. Her full direct testimony can be found, among other places, at www.spiritofmedjugorje.org. The following is an excerpt of one of her talks, given 34 years later, which I have extracted and slightly edited from www.nationalmedjugorjemovement.com]:

I was one hundred percent agnostic and did not believe in the apparitions. I was a doctor of medicine and psychiatry at the nearby clinic in Citluk. We were informed within a week of the apparitions at Medjugorje and I was sent with the head of the clinic to be present during an apparition, to disparage and expose it as a fraud.

We first had (the visionaries) brought to our clinic. I was sure I could somehow break them up or force them to contradict each other — I kept  trying to find a way to get in between them — to somehow expose something or cut off their unity in their story. But it was impossible to break them down or confuse them. And their maturity in their answers was coming from something far more intelligent than their own intellect at their age.

I was convinced I could somehow intercept a communication between the visionaries and interrupt a simulation that they were faking the apparitions. I was 99.9% convinced I could expose this as false.

The head of the clinic and myself went to attend the apparition. The interesting thing was normally when investigating an incident medically, the incident is in the past, and so we have to go by what data and evidence we can collect. This instance however was to be announced at 6:40 pm so it was very interesting for us to go there and be present.

Vicka was the most responsive and talkative of the visionaries, so I communicated the most with her. I asked her if I could present some questions to the so called Gospa (Croatian word describing Our Lady). The first thing that interested me was rather than immediately responding, Vicka said “Let me ask Our Lady, and I will get back to you.” This interested me as it indicated a further source of information. However, I was not in the slightest bit convinced.

She turned back to me and said, “Our lady says you may.”

The first question I had to present was “Who are you?”

I observed how I would ask Vicka the question, she would receive, nod her head and understand what I said, turn back to the sky and re-ask the question, then go quiet, concentrating as if she was receiving an answer, nod her head and turn back to me with an answer: “Gospa says ‘I am the Queen of Peace.’”

This answer confused me. In Medjugorje and its surroundings we had peace. (It was exactly ten years later that the war broke out so we understood why She chose this name). I posed another question: “How can we have peace when there are so many different religions?”

Vicka again took a process of turning her ear to me, receiving and nodding as I spoke, then turning back to Our Lady, speaking the question, and then silence as she seemed to receive information and nod her head, then turn back to me with an answer. This all impressed me but again, in no way convinced me and perhaps by now I was ninety percent sure I could still expose the apparitions as fraud.

Vicka said, “Gospa says there is but one faith and one God.”

“Okay,” I thought to myself. Then I wondered why would this place be chosen if there was a message to give the world, in the middle of nowhere rather than somewhere like Paris where if that place was chosen the message could be instantly made world famous due to its international position. I asked Vicka to ask why here in Medjugorje did Our lady choose to come. Vicka did the process of dialogue and returned to me with the answer: “Here, the people pray and the faith is strong.”

“Good,” I thought.  I then asked Vicka to ask the apparition if I could touch her. I didn’t think the question through before Vicka went ahead and turned back and said, “Gospa said ‘Yes you may.’”

There was no turning back. I had asked it now and realising that it could happen I came to the point of no return and had to go ahead. I reminded myself I was here on behalf of the clinic.

I asked Vicka how can I if I can’t see Her and Vicka pointed out where to put my hand.

I reached out my hand to where Vicka showed me. To this day I cannot describe what I felt in that moment. I reached out my hand and could sense that whatever was there was leaving. I looked at the visionaries and saw their faces had changed from an ecstatic joy to sad and concerned.

I asked, “She’s gone hasn’t She?” Vicka said, “Yes, She’s gone.” I then said if Gospa said anything and Vicka told me that She said, “There will always be doubting Judases.”

I could not believe these words were attributed to me — so strong, that it confronted me. I realised that here I was trying to prove the visionaries as false as if I had the truth, when in fact they were the ones that had the truth and I was false. I was that false Judas who wanted to betray these visionaries and make them appear false.

For me I had the grace to understand that Our Lady left and that comment she made was defending the visionaries from those who are attacking them and calling them false.

I came back down from that hill a different person. I will never be able to describe what I felt on that day.

Everything I needed to know I received and I no longer sought the visionaries.

I can tell you when you hear bad things or rebukes said about the visionaries, they are good, good people. They have to live in the modern world, raise families, have daily apparitions while having the world look at them — it isn’t easy. But I can tell you to this day all of them are very good people.

After this experience I saw how Medjugorje has to keep passing through the doubts like I put it  through at the very beginning, repeating itself but growing on a bigger scale. It has been doubted then accomplished faith in its parish, then its region, now it is reaching a world scale and again it is like the apparitions pulsate from moments of doubt then moments of faith as it grows bigger.

Now it is on a world scale and again we hear the world throwing its doubts as I once did. I can only tell you that when you see doubts coming to Medjugorje this is the sign that something great is about to happen and it is going to pulsate and grow bigger from great doubt to even strong belief. We are on the brink of something great that will happen.

I believe these events taking place at Medjugorje are the most important events in the history of mankind after the coming of Jesus.

MEDJUGORJE MIRACLES - COLM CAHILL

[The following is the testimony of Colm Cahill (slightly edited by me) taken from his own article which I found at www.medjugorjeusa.org]:

It was October 1988.

I was in the car coming home from an activity with my dad. I was sitting in the back at the left side.

We were driving through St Peters on our usual route home. At this time I did not know that this car journey would affect me for the next seven years. We stopped at a junction letting some cars go past. The cars had gone and my dad put the car into gear and released the hand brake. Then out of nowhere the loudest screeching of brakes you could imagine.

I turned round to see what it was: a blue Ford Escort van skidding towards our car. It went straight into the back of us. We got catapulted down the road about 100 yards and the car stopped about half a metre before a granite wall. A week later I was sitting at my desk in class, I went to FCJ School in class 7/year 3.

I think it was a Thursday. I can’t really remember this day that well. I sat quite near the front on the right side of the room where we were doing reading. Mrs Le Braye was my teacher. She called my name to come up and read to her. I stood up and started to walk towards her. I suddenly was very dizzy. It was like the room split in two. I stopped dead. I could hear her calling my name: “Colm, Colm, Colm.” Then everything went dark. I could just hear voices.

Sometime later that year I had another episode in school. This scared me a little as I was only seven years old. When I was told it was seizures I didn’t really know how serious it was.

For the first couple of years it was quite mild, but they still made me scared because having my first, I thought it was a one off, then the second and it made me realise it could happen again.

As I went into year 5/6, life got hard at school because some of the teachers and pupils did not understand how my illness affected me even when I wasn’t in a seizure. I was labelled as a daydreamer and a lazy pupil. It was because of absence of seizures that they couldn’t seem to understand.

As the seizures got worse I was made to feel like an outcast. I was hidden from others and made to do lessons when the others had PE because I was a risk. I needed special medication for long seizures and none of the staff would agree to be trained to help me. There had been a member of staff (First Aider) who had been very kind to me and had helped me in the early days, even from my first seizure but she had retired. Some staff tried to understand but I was unable to stay in the school.

Already at this time the drugs were affecting me in a negative way. For example, tempers, tiredness and mood swings. They did not know if this was partly my illness too. Car journeys to school were the worst.

I was not at FCJ any more for reasons I will keep private. I was now at Bel Royal Primary School. Car journeys improved and became quite pleasant partly due to the fact I was isolated from my brothers and sisters. Bel Royal accepted me with open arms. I was looked at like a normal child which had a positive effect on my self-confidence. I became very much involved with sports and other activities with the school, like sailing. Things which I could not have dreamed of before at FCJ. Bel Royal gave me a positive start into secondary school where my seizures still continued to occur.

Year 7 is quite blurred in my memory as my seizures were worse. I was like a yoyo in and out of hospital. I seem to remember a lot of time in sick bay with Mrs Mallet my first aider and Phil my counsellor with my dad too alongside when I woke up from a seizure. This gave me a lot of help. I had two good friends who acted as buddies for me to keep me safe from hurting myself.

I developed a desire to have a dog as they seemed to have a very calming effect on me. Sometimes I just needed a best friend to give me a hug. So Mum and Dad decided to get a dog. She was a girl called Celtie (Border Collie, sheepdog). She became my best friend. Of course I had a bunch of good friends at school but she was much more special to me. When I had seizures at home, as I came round I felt happy to see Mum, Dad and Celtie’s eyes staring at me.

My brothers and sisters went through a really hard time due to my seizures and moods. They didn’t complain and I will always be grateful  to them. They often had to go to other people at short notice and give up their plans. Elizabeth in particular helped Mum a lot with first aid and in coping with me. Patrick supported Mum and Dad by helping with the little ones. Even my little brother and sister knew what to do for seizures.

I don’t remember much about year 8 but I do remember one occasion when I was in Science. I went in and sat down, I took out my pen, touched the paper and then like magic I was in hospital. My seizure had not lasted all that time as when I came round I was eating sweets. There had been a gap in my memory. I had a drip in my arm and Mum was by my bed. I was terrified. I remember nothing of the gap.

I began to drop activities and seizures got more common at home and school. A ride in an ambulance would seem exciting to some but to me it was scary and common. My sister would hear the siren coming to school and would know it would be me. Poor Dad spent more time with me than at his desk. It became that I was hardly ever in school and I couldn’t keep up with my friends very well as I was never in school and so my relationship with Celtie grew.

My life was wrecked. I really did not see the purpose of Colm John Cahill. I was useless. I couldn’t do anything unsupervised at this time. I saw no point in church, it was a load of rubbish. But this all changed when we got our new parish priest Fr. Peter Glas. He talked a lot about Medjugorje. He came to hospital, anointed me and prayed with me. One day he came to my house and spoke to me privately. He said “Colm, I want to ask you something.” I replied “Yes, what?” He said “I am going to Medjugorje. I would like to dedicate my whole pilgrimage to you. For seven days every prayer will be for your healing. Is that okay with you?” I was speechless. I replied: “Yes, I will pray too.” 

It was Friday night. I was in the garden praying and it was so noisy and windy. I was praying the Rosary and I had lit ten candles. I had got on to my third decade and the time was exactly 9:00 pm and ten o’clock in Medjugorje, the time of the apparition. Suddenly the world stopped and the wind fell. It was completely still and there was no traffic. I felt completely at peace which I had not felt for seven years. It was indescribable. At five minutes past nine all the candles I had lit went out and there was no wind. After the candles went out the noise came back and soon after the wind did too. I believe I as healed at that  time. I haver never had a seizure since.

[Colm not only recovered and caught up with his education, he went into the seminary and is due to be ordained a Catholic priest in 2017. The following is the same story from Fr. Glas’ own testimony, again only slightly edited by me]:

In early 2004 I was a new parish priest in the west of Jersey Catholic Parish. I had been given this by the bishop the previous September. I was still finding my way around and meeting all the people. At that time I didn’t even really know Colm and the Cahill family. I had been warned that one of my altar servers was likely to collapse on the floor at any time. The previous parish priest told me not to be surprised and to just ignore it; someone would move him. I wasn’t even sure which one it was.

The first real contact was when I was asked to visit him in hospital. I went there to his room and saw a young boy in bed with his mum by his side. I prayed with him, anointed him and gave him some sweets. I also gave him a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I noticed in the weeks that followed he wasn’t always at Mass and had stopped serving on the altar. On one occasion after Mass I saw Mary crying with some women. I asked someone what was wrong. “Teenage problems,” was the reply, but I had a strong feeling it was more. I went with her and we spoke privately and she shared with me the true reality and horror of what was happening to Colm and how it was affecting the family. On that day in Mass she just lost the ability to put up a front that she coped.

One Sunday afternoon the family came to the presbytery to watch a DVD and relax. It was nearly time to go when Colm’s mood changed. He became aggressive. David was taking the first car full of kids home and would return for Colm and Mary. Colm was in the armchair dark-eyed and sullen. Mary warned me he was leading into a seizure. She laid him onto the floor with my help as it began. It was horrible, but then came the hallucinations. He was full of terror. I too was terrified. As it eased and David helped him to the car Mary said “That was mild.” When they left, I was in tears. I continued to support the family with prayers and for Mary as someone she could talk in confidence to about it all. They were in despair at times and seeking help anywhere they could find.

One Sunday in May 2004 I left one of the churches to go home. As I reached the junction I intended to turn left but found I had turned right. I didn’t know why. I decided that as I was heading in the wrong direction I would go and see the family. I felt as if a voice was saying “Go to them.” I found them at home and I asked Colm to join me in the garden. It was the Sunday before I was due to go to Medjugorje with the first Jersey pilgrimage. Without ever having thought about it, I found myself asking Colm if he would like me to offer my week for him. I told him the whole seven days of prayer would be for him to ask to find a way to cope and the best treatment. He said “Yes, please.” We agreed he would pray in Jersey and we would make a spiritual bridge between us. Mary found me a photo of him to take with me.

On the Wednesday I heard from Mary that he was having a horrible seizure. The fear, violence and hallucinations were terrifying.

On the Thursday I left with a group of 25 people. Only two knew the purpose of my pilgrimage. Colm’s picture was with me in my shirt pocket. Every Mass, prayer and Rosary I offered for him. It was my sixth visit to Medjugorje but I had never experienced such intensity and trust in prayer. One day we went to visit Fr. Jozo, a very charismatic priest who had been in Medjugorje at the start of the apparitions.

I asked him for a special prayer and blessing. I held the photo of Colm and he stood with one hand on it and one hand on my shoulder. We stood there for a long time and we both prayed together. I kept in touch daily with Mary and Colm. she was pleased to say they were having seizure free days.

We didn’t know but a special day was about to come. Friday 21st May 2004 our group was invited to go to Apparition Hill to be with Ivan the visionary as Our Lady was coming. At 10:00 pm she would come. I had arranged that at the same time (9:00 pm in Jersey) Colm and Mary would pray. I took Colm in my heart and was there holding his photo. Colm and Mary were with me too in prayer. I held the picture in front of me and when She came I presented him to Her and asked Her prayers. After the apparition Ivan explained through translators what She had said. Our Lady had said that She especially was interceding for all the sick who had been brought there in prayers that night. I went back to where we were staying and found a text message from Mary to say something extraordinary had happened to Colm. There was no detail and I didn’t know Colm’s story until I returned to Jersey.

On the last day, the Wednesday I made my last act of prayer. I was going up Mount Krizevac to pray the Stations of the Cross. I had with me Paul Le Claire and Deacon Paul Hagg and of course Colm in my pocket. It was 2:00 pm and incredibly hot for the climb. It was an amazing prayer experience with each of us praying for our intentions and me in particular for Colm. When I reached the top I stopped at the memorial to Fr. Slavko who had died at the top. Something told me to put Colm’s picture at the memorial and leave it. I was afraid it would blow away or someone may move it so I buried it under the stones on the memorial. I felt I had to hand him to Fr. Slavko’s prayers and intercessions. On my way down I felt I had left behind someone I had become so close to in that week. But I knew I had to do it. “Do what you can and leave the rest in the hands of God.” This I did with enormous love and trust in God.

On my return to Jersey there was great news. Colm had just had the first seizure free week for months. To this day he has never had another seizure.

I continued to support the family and Colm with prayers. He started a daily Rosary and personal consecration prayer to Our Lady which he still does to this day. The year was hard and he needed a lot of spiritual help and support to adjust to normal life. Coming off the medication was so difficult but he is now a healthy 14-year-old teenager. His life has changed but needs help and prayer as he catches up with the gaps in his life and development. Educationally he is so behind and desperate to achieve.

My life too, has changed. since May 2004 I have not missed the Rosary on one single day. It was a prayer I didn’t find easy before. Lots of people in Jersey are joining me for the Rosary and to be before the Blessed Sacrament for Holy Hours. I hope our story will bring hope and faith to many who have lost their way in the spiritual desert around us. May they put God into their lives. I have learned to pray and trust like a child without doubt.

I returned to Medjugorje in May 2005, this time with Colm.