By Mauro, Loredana and Luisa

(Taken from the book, Our Lady Is Alive in Međugorje – Conversations with Father Tomislav Vlašić; Publisher Luci dell’Esodo)

Experiencing “Medjugorje”

Many people think that I withdrew from and abandoned the parish of Medjugorje. In actual fact, I withdrew not in order to leave Medjugorje, but to experience the contents of the apparitions on a deeper level, to live the calling in a more profound and more radical manner, a calling that is “of Medjugorje” in its essence. I already mentioned that the grace of Our Lady’s apparitions is in actual fact much deeper and more extensive with respect to that which refers exclusively to the parish, the visionaries and the pilgrims.

After leaving Medjugorje, I withdrew into solitude in order to be with the Lord, to understand his will. The period spent in Medjugorje was a time in which Our Lady prepared me for a definitive mission. The Lord spoke to me in my heart about this mission, but also through other faithful people inspired by God, who were visiting Medjugorje from various parts of the world. Thus a clearer view of God’s plan was unveiled before me, a plan that God wants to fulfil through Mary during this e¹ra. There was then a development in events, until the time came when the Lord asked me for full willingness, asking me if I were ready for a specific duty. I answered him saying that I was ready to do His will, despite all my limits and weaknesses, but during that moment I did not know exactly what it was about: for this reason I had to withdraw into silence, in order to come to an understanding of God’s will through prayer.

I did not abandon Medjugorje, I sacrificed everything for God so that, with meditation of Our Lady, his plan for humanity might be fulfilled entirely. I answered God’s calling according to what I felt and recognised at that moment. It was by no means easy to leave everything, to separate from my friends, to take leave of the people dear to me who were around me and who loved me. But Jesus asked me to leave everything to remain with him, to listen to and understand God’s will more deeply, to begin a new phase of my life. Many years have passed since that experience and, if I look back now on them now, the steps I took towards a life withdrawn into solitude appear to be much clearer to me. Now I have come to a deeper understanding of why everything was to go in that direction; I understand better what God wants to achieve in Medjugorje and in all those who met Our Lady there.

I can see that I have not left either Podbrdo or Križevac or Medjugorje, because all the messages of Our Lady may be summarised in conversion, peace, and reconciliation with God and among men. In order to reach this, we must believe, pray, fast, go to confession, offer up our lives to God, fight against the strengths of the shadows, as Saint Paul says. Every Christian is called to experience all of this, wherever he is. Here is a summary: by withdrawing into silence I was simply able to concentrate more deeply on the essence of Our Lady’s messages, which definitively express the simplicity of the Gospel and, far from human activism, I was able to consecrate more on what God wants us to experience through the intercession of Our Lady.

I can see that during this period, the graces in Medjugorje are even stronger than they were in the beginning. The graces during this era are so strong that they attract those who are on their way towards eternity, towards the living God. And these faithful enter into the mystery of life, they enter into that communion that Saint John the apostle speaks about at the end of the Apocalypse: “He shall dwell among them and they shall be his people and he shall be God-with-them”. “Behold, I shall make all things new”².

At the same time, the strength of these graces leaves aside those who are not interested, it leaves them feeling cold, not because God pushes them away, but because they close themselves off to this grace of growth, this transformation into new men.

Within certain people there is a manifestation of scepticism and immaturity. We encounter something strange in their behaviour: they deal with things that happen around Our Lady, but they are not interested in the life of the Mother within them; they deal with what happens around themselves, external activities, rather than dwelling within the temple of their own soul, rather than opening themselves to God in order to work with him and to allow him to fulfil all of his promises.

Our call consists of entering into the living temple of our soul, remaining open like Mary so that the Holy Spirit might come down, work within us and transform us into new creatures, through the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This is the only manner in which we can attain true resurrection.

All of our commitment must be the experience of an intimate link with God, which is not intimism, and through which we are guided, transfigured and introduced to a constant novelty by the Holy Spirit. If we move in this direction, we will not be disappointed, we will not remain in the shadows, nor will we enter into conflict with each other due to different interpretations of some sign or secret.

Signs and secrets

I cannot speak fully about this subject with just a few words, but I can say what I believe to be essential regarding the secrets. God is a mystery for man, his very life is also a mystery for man. He walks towards this mystery that is God and he can never fulfil it, because it is infinite. We can only walk towards God in faith, in hope and in love. The secrets that we speak about, in so far as signs, are exhortations to convert in order to experience graces, so that man might learn to walk towards God and so that a vital relationship might be developed between him and God. Intended in this manner, the secret is no longer secret, it becomes a means that helps man to enter into the light.

From the experiences had up to now, through a lengthy journey, step after step I have been able to see and recognise certain deep layers marked by the mystery in myself and in others, it is impossible to understand these things rationally or to interpret them; they remain mysteries that are accessible only to the light of faith and in true communion with others. The ten secrets that the visionaries speak about are specific knowledge imparted to them, but people can only enter into the mystery of the life of God with conversion and with a completely new life.

For this reason, the basis of everything is to convert and to enter into the light of divine life. God continuously gives us signs: every grace is a sign, every impulse is a sign; everything can be a sign for man, open to God, even the simple occurrences of daily life. If man were completely open to God, then he would be able to contemplate his love and recognise his presence everywhere.

Some people certainly linger on signs. In my opinion this is an expression of immaturity in faith. Perhaps I may seem harsh, but unfortunately I have encountered people like this. What’s more, we know that the Pharisees used to scrutinize Jesus’ words and seek out signs, but they did not recognise him as a Sign. At the end of time, all signs will disappear, God alone shall remain. The visionaries speak about a sign that Our Lady will leave on apparition hill. Whatever it is, it will only be a sign and it will never replace faith, hope and love, the answer to God that raises man up to the dignity of the Son of God. For this reason the centre of attention must be on our relationship with the living God.

We know from the Gospel that people were moved by signs and that, thanks to them, they made progress on their journey towards God. Signs provoke us and call us. Unfortunately men easily stop at signs or seek them continuously; they wait for some external sign to give them a sense of security, to help them in their terrestrial existence. This is a terrible trap that leads man to enclose himself within the selfishness of earthly existence. By adopting such an approach, we would go against the true Sign in Medjugorje, which is the presence of the Mother of God. Through the grace of her apparitions we are called to live with her in God and this requires continuous conversion from us.

The intention of the grace of the apparitions is to involve man totally so that he might decide to experience a change that might lead him to the attainment of all the promises, to follow Jesus Christ and to enter into his life. If they fail to adopt this behaviour of continuous conversion, men will become selfish in their relations with God: praying only for themselves, to obtain something, turning to prognostics, interpreting the secrets in a negative, apocalyptic sense, associating them with cataclysms and catastrophes.

Those who decide for the Kingdom of God, who decide for the living God, for the living Our Lady and for the experienced Eucharist; choose to be living members of the body of Christ, that is, the Church. The faithful are therefore called to enter into the mystery of the life of God, rather than continuing to wait for the revelation of the secrets by the visionaries, asking themselves what they will be like, or when and how the sign will be manifested at the site of the apparitions.

In his letter to the Romans, Saint Paul explains it well: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God³. The Apostle invites us to enter into an awareness that our life belongs to God, not because we should give up on living, but because we need to receive a life from God that is renewed continuously, a transfigured life. In this sense, Saint Paul invites us to the offering of life in sacrifice, so that in faith, man might conquer every obstacle, like Abraham when he offered up his only son: he re-obtained his son from God and saw God’s promises being fulfilled.

Incredulous man seeks signs so as to have a false sense of security, he wants to know the secrets so as to be able to rationalise them.

But Saint Paul says: “Allow yourselves to be transformed by God with a complete change of your mind. Thus you will be able to understand what God’s will is”. Only by dying to ourselves, as we promised in baptism, will we allow God to transform us. We are called therefore to undertake the pathway that might lead us to transformation.

In this continuous pilgrimage towards newness, God gives us the graces necessary to be able to discern what his will is. Only in this manner will we enter into the mystery and understand all the secrets. In the first letter to the Corinthians, in chapter seven, speaking of the various stages of life, the apostle Paul says: But this I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none, those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess, and those who use this world as not misusing it. For the form of this world is passing away.⁴ This text invites us to detach ourselves from the earth. Our souls must be in God, then God will also give us what is necessary for this earthly life. This does not mean neglecting our duties, it means that our spirit must be united with the Holy Spirit, so as not to be influenced by earthly things, by what is corruptible. This gives us the possibility of progressing and reaching that life that the Lord promised us. How will our life be according to God’s promises? He promised us something that we can find within ourselves: all his promises are in us, like all life is found in a seed; and everything develops within us on the basis of our answer, in total abandonment⁵.

In the Gospel, when answering the dispute on marriage and the question regarding the woman whom seven brothers had as their wife, Jesus answers clearly saying: “Nor can they die anymore for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection”⁶. Does this sentence not provoke us? Does this novelty not summon us that man and the whole of humanity are called to transform, to become similar to the Son of God?