17 November 2024

By Mauro, Loredana and Luisa

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

Maturity and action

Even after moving I maintained an active relationship with Medjugorje. In fact, many of the faithful who came on pilgrimages to Medjugorje came to visit me. In Vitina on the other hand I felt freer and by keeping a certain distance from the events in Medjugorje, I was able to silently reflect on the profound experiences occurring within my soul. That period was very important for me. All the experiences that I had undergone in Medjugorje, that had been impressed deeply within me and that had moulded me, were emerging. I felt a great need for silence in order to come to a better understanding of everything that had happened to me.

I immediately felt the need to incarnate Our Lady’s message, to make it become alive within me. A second need associated with the first one was to transmit to others what I had received. Within me, everything moved around these two needs which gradually directed my growth and my action.

I wanted to experience a profound reawakening in faith and responsibly adopt a radical form of behaviour before the living God, to be alive within him also, in communion with others. In this fundamental commitment, I began to experience something quite special which gradually led me to a veritable turning point in my existence: I offered my life as a holocaust to Jesus through Mary, so that the truth of the apparitions of the Queen of Peace might be manifested to humanity. Although the apparitions have been accompanied by many signs, all of this did not seem sufficient to me. I felt that it was necessary to offer my life to God so that He could be the one to embrace souls and change them.

The calling in the calling

All the events of grace associated with the apparitions of the Mother of God influenced me greatly. The graces received illuminated and confirmed what had been sown deeply within my soul: that is, the desire to belong to God completely.

What led me to offer my life as a holocaust? I observed the manner in which people were approaching the apparitions. I was aware that we could not go forward on the wings of enthusiasm. We had to learn to cherish what Our Lady had given to us like a precious pearl and pay a high price so as to ensure that God’s promises would be fulfilled. It was necessary to grow in faith, to not stop at signs.

During the summer of 1982, I experienced the painful truth that it is impossible to explain and prove the apparitions to common people, to the clergy or to the scientists who were examining this phenomenon. Humanly speaking, I couldn’t prove anything. Then within my soul I understood that I needed to make my own life available to Our Lady as a sacrifice of love so that the promises made by God through her might be fulfilled. This awareness was loud and clear within me. In this pathway of offering, the impulses of the Holy Spirit guided me step after step and I abandoned myself to this guidance.

The impulses of the Holy Spirit were like a yeast that pervaded me and moulded my offering. Occasionally this occurred silently, in an unperceivable manner; other times I was shaken to my bones.

I would like to recall an episode that I experienced in 1983, during the Mass. I had prepared for the celebration, as I usually did, but what I experienced was extraordinary. I am convinced that God granted me a special grace in order to allow me to undergo that experience. I recall that I came to a profound and illuminating awareness when celebrating that Mass, by means of which I came to understand that Jesus was really offering himself on the altar, while I was only fulfilling a rite. I felt separated from Jesus, not immersed in what he was experiencing. In theory, I knew well, as a Christian and above all, as a priest, that I was called to be totally united with Jesus. In reality however, I felt that this was not the case. At that moment, grace reawakened me and lit up a great desire within me to be completely united with Jesus and to share everything with him, in the celebration of the Eucharist in particular.

Everything didn’t end in that holy Mass. I remained so absorbed by that experience that I withdrew into silence. I felt that it was a terrible thing to be a priest and at the same time to be separated from Jesus’ offering. I felt my own awareness of indifference, coldness, formality and betrayal of Jesus that a priest experiences if he merely fulfils a rite, without being immersed in what Jesus experienced. This experience remained with me for several days, arousing pain and tears within me. Following this I could no longer remain the same. I decided that I would become a single thing with Jesus. I prayed to him to revive the gift of the priesthood within me and to guide me in my offering to the Father together with him.

Several experiences occurred within my soul which gradually moulded my answer. The offering of my life to Jesus through Mary conferred fullness to my spirituality. The many testimonies of people who placed their trust in me enriched my awareness. Some of them said to me that God had invited them to sacrifice and he entrusted them with special sufferings so that they would carry them for the salvation of the world. Others recognised the calling to consecration, to a total donation of themselves.

Our Lady, actually God through his Mother, visited his people and reawakened them. This affirmation may seem strange at a time when we see that many things in peoples souls are not right, yet it is true that people have reawakened. Unfortunately some direct their energy towards evil, while others choose good. The world has reawakened spiritually and will continue to do so more and more, because God wants to definitively free his sons and daughters from corruption. For this reason he sent his Mother to gather the children together and help them so that in them the divine life that is capable of refusing everything that is corrupt might be reawakened.

During the summer of 1984, Jelena Vasilj said to me that among other things, Our Lady had affirmed: “I appeared above all to purify spiritual movements throughout the world”. At the time I didn’t quite understand these words in their whole extent and depth. Today this is much clearer to me. Our Lady appeared in the parish of Medjugorje to reawaken the awareness of the dignity of the children of God in her children, to introduce them to the living hope of being able to live the message of Jesus Christ. The Church that recognises Mary as its model and destination to be reached, has been called to welcome and embrace the Mother of God. In Our Lady’s living embrace, the Church will be purified and regenerated and it will be a sign of salvation for all peoples: she alone, as a Mother, will embrace all the peoples and generate them once again.

It is difficult to say it briefly. I’ll try to highlight some characteristics that I noticed.

I have met individuals, simple people, given to God and desiring to be united totally with him. My soul found rest in them. I did not perceive any badness in their souls. They were like a clear lake in which God’s goodness was reflected. They absorbed all the good that reached them and they put all evil aside. For me they were true saints on earth. Unfortunately these people are few and far between.

I also met various people touched by God in an extraordinary manner. Some of them were strongly attracted by grace and ready to embark on a special mission. In them I could clearly see God’s work: they showed divine life, they powerfully imprinted it in others and, at the same time, their experiences were a confirmation for what others were experiencing.

In my experience, I noticed that although touched by grace in an extraordinary manner, certain people failed to fully grasp the capacity of that grace due to their immaturity. In them many experiences seemed unclear, also because they were often lacking adequate accompaniment along the pathway of faith.

I was also able to observe people who defined themselves as Christians but who, in my opinion, were simply observers of religion. Some of them seemed to experience Christianity as belonging to an ideology. Others are traditionalists, they participate in the assemblies of the Church and in rites, but without any actual personal involvement and without any growth within themselves. These people add to the numbers at mass, within which they find a certain sense of protection and safety, but they remain passive. When God manifests himself or when Our Lady appears, they reawaken but they rarely change. Actually, they try to let their impulses of grace become part of their habits, multiplying their devotional practices, but they fail to change in their being nor are they able to transmit the life of God, which leads to transformation, to others. They do not make any progress in faith, although they know how to be very active in religious rites and works.