[Music]
Here, the faith was not free.
We were allowed to go to Holy Mass on Sundays.
And, that was it. That was what we could do.
The rest of religious life was taking place at home.
Our parents taught us to pray.
We prayed Holy Rosary every evening together.
But, they did not talk about the faith, much.
Because, they were afraid.
As kids, we cannot speak about it in school.
If so, they could have problems.
That is why I had never heard about Lourdes, or Fatima.
I didn't know that Our Lady could come here to earth
in such a way.
I thought she is up in Heaven, and we pray.
When Ivanka told me that she thought
Our Lady is up on the hill,
I was kind of rude. I had a rude response.
I told her, "Right. She hasn't got better things to do?"
"And she came to the two of us?"
And I left her there, and I wanted to return to the village.
But, when I got to the first houses,
I felt this call within me.
I had to return back. When I got there,
I saw Ivanka standing at the very same spot.
She told me, "Look now, please."
I saw a woman in a long, greyish gown,
who was holding a baby in her arms.
Everything was really strange.
Because, no one went to the hill.
Especially not a person in a long gown
with a baby in their arms.
At that very moment, I felt all possible emotions
that we are able to feel.
Pride. Beauty. Incomprehension.
Fear.
And, what was the most intense emotion
was the need to flee this place.
I ran back home.
When I got home, I found my grandmother
and I told her, right away:
"Granny, I think I saw Our Lady up on the hill."
She told me "Take the Holy Rosary. Go to your room, and pray."
"Leave Our Lady where she is."
I didn't have the strength to explain everything to Granny.
I just wanted to be alone, in prayer.
That was the only way I had peace.
The following day, I was helping my uncles,
like every day before that.
But, when the time came that I saw Our Lady the day before,
I felt this calling, again.
I told my uncle that I had to go to the hill
because something has been calling me.
When we got there,
nearly half the village was there, already.
Someone came with every visionary.
We saw Our Lady at the very same place.
This time, she was not carrying a baby in her arms.
On that day, 25 June 1981,
was the first day we got to hear her.
She introduced herself.
She told us, "My dear children. Do not be afraid.
I am the Queen of Peace."
That is how our daily apparitions started.
For a short while, we had the apparitions at the hill.
As I said earlier, it was a time of communism.
Shortly afterward, police came, with dogs.
They surrounded the hill.
Everyone there, eventually ended up in prison.
In those first days, Our Lady showed some miracles.
Nearly everyone from the village saw something.
For example, there were two miraculous healings, right away.
Then, the cross on Cross Mountain was disappearing, with
Our Lady appearing on that spot, instead,
dressed in white.
The local people saw this.
I will give you an example what the situation was like.
We, who had been brought up in communism,
had learned how to be silent.
The fewer words you say, the better for you.
So, when the cross was disappearing at Cross Mountain,
everyone was silent. They just looked at it.
One young man was 25 at that time.
He was unable to remain silent, because of the emotions he felt.
He said, "Look! There is no cross! Our Lady is there, instead!"
He was sentenced to prison for six months.
That was the situation at that time.
The word "Mir" was written in the sky.
"Mir" means "Peace."
At that time, Father Jozo was our parish priest.
When the police came to him, to tell him to close the church,
because Holy Mass was now forbidden,
Father Jozo said, "I saw with my own eyes,
that the word Mir is written on the sky.
I cannot close the church.
Do with me as you will."
He ended up in prison.
But the local people had seen all of that.
Knowing us as children,
they trusted us, and they helped us.
We had an apparition every evening at a different spot.
I had daily apparitions like that, until Christmas, 1982.
That is when Our Lady entrusted me with the 10th Secret.
She told me I would no longer have daily apparitions.
She told me it would be once a year.
Every 18th of March, as long as I live.
She also said I would have extraordinary apparitions.
Those apparitions started on 2nd August, 1987.
Those are ongoing until this day.
I don't know how long I will have them.
Those apparitions are also a prayer for unbelievers.
Our Lady never calls them that.
Because if you say about someone, "You're an unbeliever,"
you judged and condemned him.
Our Lady never does that.
She says "the ones that have not yet discovered the love of God."
She is asking our help.
When she says, "our help,"
she does not mean the six of us, the six visionaries.
She means the help of everyone who feels she is their mother.
She says we can change unbelievers,
with our prayers, and by our example.
She asks that we put prayers for them as a priority in our daily prayers.
Most of the ugly things which happen in this world,
comes from them.
That is why Our Lady says,
"When you pray for them, you pray for yourself, and your future."
In addition to prayers, she asks for our example.
She doesn't want us to preach.
She asks us to speak with our own lives,
so unbelievers can witness in us, God, and the love of God.
I kindly request you consider this In the most serious way.
If you could see the tears of Our Lady just once,
the tears she cries for unbelievers,
I am sure you would pray with all your heart.
She says this is the time of great decision.
She says it is up to us, who say we are children of God,
that there is a great responsibility upon us.
When she asks prayers for unbelievers,
she would like us to try that in her way.
That would be, the way I understood it:
First, feel love for them.
Feel they are our brothers and sisters
who were not as lucky as we were,
to feel the love of God.
When we feel that way, we will be able to pray for them.
Never judge, never condemn, never criticize.
Simply love them.
Pray for them.
And, give your own example.
Our example tells a lot.
We all have unbelievers,
in our house, somewhere nearby, at our workplace,
and that unbeliever looks at us, and at our life.
We must ask ourselves whether the love of God,
is what they see in us.
I will give you a nice example.
One evening, when I went to Holy Mass in Medjugorje,
our church was crowded.
I am unable to stand up very long.
I saw a small space on one of the pews.
I sat down.