Medjugorje - Day Seven

Breakfast at 8.15am followed by the ‘Final Day’ briefing from the guides, then 10am Mass at St James Church, a Caribbean priest saying Mass with eight other priests and two deacons on the altar.

Then, shopping in the 90-degree temperatures or, alternatively, a nap followed by dinner at 3.45pm.

(I’ve been wondering about exactly how many people attend evening Rosary and International Mass. I thought it was 2,000-3,000 but Diana the guide thought 5,000-7,000. So, today I counted the benches: there are 2,840 four-person benches (with arms) in the inner circle and 3,605 five-person benches (without arms) in the outer circle. Usually the inner circle benches are full and up to half of the outer circle benches. That makes about 4,642 people (out of a maximum capacity of 6.445) so I am comfortable quoting a regular Mass attendance figure of 4,000-5,000).

At 5pm we had a talk that was not very well publicised - perhaps deliberately - so as not to annoy the Vatican authorities by seeming to pre-judge their verdict on the apparitions by inviting one of the visionaries onto the altar to participate in the talk. There were only a few hundred people present in the outdoor area – perhaps the 85+ degree temperatures were a factor - as a priest introduced the talk, and then the visionary Jakov Colo spoke for about 40 minutes.

Jakov prefaced the talk by saying that he had decided not to involve pilgrims directly with his apparitions but to restrict himself to talks/lectures. He then spoke simply, directly and with great relevance and insight on key aspects of faith. The structure of his talk was: (no commencing Creed) reflection1, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be and so on until reflection 7, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.  

He made the interesting comments that people coming to Medjugorje should not look for signs or attend visionaries but examine their lives and change them, and that the significance of witnessing consists not in description of things seen but how the quality of our changed lives impacts others (perhaps another way of expressing St Francis’ dictum ‘preach, and if necessary use words’.)

International Mass was at 7pm and there was an excellent critique of blind consumerism during the homily, expertly translated. This was followed by the Creed, seven Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glory Be’s, which was then followed by the Blessing of articles and prayers for healing.

There was a new English-language translator for the last two evenings and she was excellent; clear, concise and her phrasing, emphasis and modulation of tone seemed to more effectively convey the Croatian original then her predecessor who sounded younger and tended to get a little lost. Sadly, we returned the hired radios, a bargain at 10 Euros for a week. Pilgrims can use a regular radio to listen to the Mass translations from Croatian to English on 94.3FM (or to other languages - including Chinese Cantonese - on a different frequency) but the tour guides like those from Joe Walsh Tours who use radios use a different frequency so I do not think you can use your personal radio to access these frequencies and may need to hire one that covers all the frequencies (but I am not 100% sure on this point).  

As we walked to the St James Church just after 10pm the priests were still busy hearing confessions in the open air and there were queues for several languages. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at the outdoor altar was an incredible experience. The vast seating area was full; many knelt on the bare ground while dozens of people walked around looking for seats. We arrived late at 10.15pm and eventually found seats at the very furthest distance from the altar. Although there were probably around 7,000 people present, there was complete silence, broken only by the sound of crickets and the occasional hum of distant traffic. There were people of all ages and nationalities, including the infirm elderly, vast numbers of youths, children and babies in prams

The PA system worked to perfection; we were perhaps 150 metres from the altar with its giant monstrance, yet, when there was a prayer or song, every word came across clearly and distinctly. There were Bible readings in several languages (including English and Arabic), hymns and songs of praise, chants of Emanuel, Jesus and Amen, Tantum ergo Sacramentum, Kyrie eleison and others. This was sublime worship, respectful, adoring, involved. The 45 minutes we spent flew past and the end when a priest blessed up with the monstrance came much too soon.

There was an all-night adoration in St James Church starting from 11pm in thanks for the receipt of the monthly message on the 25^th of each month by visionary Marija. We briefly popped in and, as expected, the church was almost full.