Medjugorje Visionary Mirjana Interview March 10 2020

[Music]

[Mirjana] [Translator]
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.

Our brothers and sisters
from Italy were there.

When I sat down,

they began to yell and complain.

You know how temperamental
our brothers and sisters

from Italy are.

They all said, "Get up!
This is our bench!"

"We got here, first!"

So many words
in just one moment.

I got up, and I was silent.

One lady approached me.

She recognized me.

She told them that I am
one of the visionaries.

They gave me the whole bench
just for myself.

[Laughter]

The reason I tell you this:

What do you think would happen

if I was an unbeliever?

And I was entering the church
for the first time?

And inside, are the ones who claim
they know the love of God?

And they behaved toward me
in such a way?

Would I ever enter the church again?

And whose responsibility
would that be?

That is something that
Our Lady tries to say.

We can all learn
to speak nicely.

But, Our Lady
wants our lives to speak, instead.

That with our example,
it can be shown

that we are trying to live
the love of God.

In these apparitions
of Medjugorje,

the most important
message of Our Lady

is the Holy Mass.

But, not solely on Sundays.

When we were children,

at the beginning of
the apparitions,

she said on one occasion,

"If you have to choose

between an apparition
or Holy Mass,

you should choose Holy Mass.

Always.

Because during Holy Mass,

my Son is present, with you."

Throughout all the years
of apparitions of Our Lady,

Our Lady never said,

"Pray and I will give."

She always says,

"Pray, so I can pray,
and ask my Son for you."

That Jesus is always in the first place.

Many pilgrims,
when they come to Medjugorje,

think that we visionaries
are important.

That it is enough
to say something to us,

that God listens to us
more than to others,

but that thinking is wrong.

Because, for Our Lady
as a mother,

there are no privileged ones.

For her, we are all
her dear children.

She chose us,

to speak the messages to us.

But, she chose every single
one of you.

That is something she said
in one of the January 2nd messages.

She said, "Dear children,

I have invited you.

Open your hearts.

Let me in, so that I can

make you my apostles."

So, in the eyes of
our Holy Mother,

we have the same importance.

There are none whom she listens to
more, or less.

I learned, at the very beginning
of the apparitions.

You heard when I said
"my uncle, my grandmother."

Because I am the only one
of us six visionaries

who was not born here,
nor grew up here.

My parents are from here.

But, when they married,
they moved to Sarajevo.

So, I was born and raised there.

I always visited here,
because the rest of my family was here.

But when the apparitions began,

because the communists
wanted to stop everything,

I was returned by force
to Sarajevo.

Here, where you are now,
in this zone,

is populated by Croatians.

Croatians are Catholic.

Here, the communist police
were 'Croatian,'

and, when they took us
for interrogations,

they yelled, they swore at us,

but nothing else.

But, in Sarajevo,

the situation was
completely different.

In Sarajevo,
there were true communists.

And, mainly Muslims.

Every single day,
they came to my house.

They would destroy
everything around.

And, they would
take me with them.

I was just 15, then.

I never knew if I would ever
return home.

I thought Our Lady
would help me.

But, when I would have
an apparition,

she told me the same things
as told to the other visionaries.

Nothing regarding me,
or my situation.

I don't need to tell you
how alone and abandoned I felt.

The five of them were here, together,

in the village that loves
and supports them.

But in Sarajevo, I had only
my parents and my brother.

Everyone else was forced to
distance themselves from us.

But, through prayer,

I understood,

for God, for Our Lady,

there are no privileged ones.

If you are having a hard time,

take the Rosary, and pray.

God will not leave you alone.

When I felt that in my heart,

I was able to deal with

everything that hurt me,

with far more strength.

Also, now, in Medjugorje,

many times, people say,

"I had a healing,

I got to know
the love of God."

I have never met
many of those people, in my life.

So, I was not the one
who prayed for them.

They had open hearts.

They asked for Mother's help.

She asked her Son, for them.

I am telling you this,
so you may understand

when you need
Our Lady, our Mother,

you do not need visionaries.

The only thing you need
is an open heart.

Our Lady says,

"Open your heart,
and I will be with you."

So, it is up to us,

if we want our Mother with us,
to be at our side.

Our Lady asked for
prayer in families.

She says nothing unites family
as well as praying together.

She says parents have a great
responsibility to their children.

Because, they are the ones who
should put the rules of faith

in their children.

They can, if they pray together,

and if they go to Holy Mass.

We cannot talk to children
about the importance of Holy Mass,

unless they see that we put Holy Mass
In first priority.

We cannot speak about
the importance of prayer,

if they do not see us praying.

That is why Our Lady says
the parents have great responsibility.

Because children know what they see
in their homes and families.

And, they see a lot,

way more than we think.

I always like to give this
nice example from my family:

When my older daughter, Marija,
was just two,

I had not talked to her
about the apparitions.

I thought, at age two,
she is unable to comprehend anything.

One day, when she was playing
with a friend, in her room,

I heard her friend say,
"My mother drives a car."

Since I don't drive,
Marija was silent a moment.

Then she said, "Big deal, to
drive a car.

My mother talks to Our Lady
every single day."

[Laughter]

Without me saying anything,
she understood.

That is why it is important
for children to see

that for their mother and father,
God is the first priority.

Our Lady asks us to fast.

Bread and water,
Fridays and Wednesdays.

She does not ask people
who are ill, to fast.

She said that, through prayer,
they will understand

other things they can do.

If you never fasted
two days a week,

if you never prayed the Rosary
every day,

I would suggest you begin

the way Our Lady showed us
to begin.

First thing she asked:

Seven Our Fathers, Hail Mary,
Glory Be, and Creed.

Then, she asked for the
first part of the Rosary.

And, that we fast on Fridays.

Also, it is not necessary
that you begin with bread and water.

You can begin by
not eating meat on Fridays.

Catholics never ate meat on Fridays.

That can be a beginning.

After a while, Our Lady asked
for the second part of the Rosary.

And then third (part of Rosary),

and that we fast on Wednesdays,
as well.

She was going step by step.

That is an example for us.

What is important is
to go with her.

When you fall,

she will give you a hand
to get up.

It is important to start

walking with her.

I would recommend you all,

present here with me,

don't begin fasting here.

Once you return home,

then begin.

I don't want any of you
to become dizzy,

especially now.

Who will take you
to the hospital?

[Laughter]

With this corona?

Thank God, it is not here yet.

But, that is my sisterly advice.

Start at your homes.

We will prepare simple food here.

It is important for you
to eat something.

Our Lady also asks for
Holy Bible in families.

When she gives me a message,
she does not explain it to me.

She gives me the message

in the very same way
I am giving it to you.

I need every one of you:

Pray, read the messages,

and try to discern
what God wants from you.

Those who have been
following the messages

on the 2nd of the month,

you might notice that
there are quite a lot.

I remember it exactly
the way Our Lady said it,

just for two or three
minutes, afterwards.

That is why, always,
at the Blue Cross,

as soon as Our Lady
leaves us,

I tell the message.

So, they write it down.

Because, when I
return to my room to pray,

I can tell you what she talked about.

But I am unable to repeat it
word for word.

I need the written message,
myself, later,

as I read and pray.

That is also when Our Lady says,
return to the Bible.

I think we all have a Bible.

But, I think Our Lady
wants simple things.

To open the Bible
every single day,

to read a line or two,
no matter what.

But, that the Bible
is present, in our families.

That the Bible is not there
merely to say we have it,

but we don't remember
when we last touched the Bible.

In the Bible,
there are the answers we seek.

Many pilgrims think

that after this many years,

it's a normal thing
for me to have an apparition.

That I am used to it.

I have to tell you,
that is not the case.

Every time is like the first time.

Every time, I prepare myself,
with fasting and prayer.

Two or three days before, I fast.

The night before, I spend in prayer.

With prayer, I can wait for tomorrow
in a peaceful way.

When I am with Our Lady,

I believe that is the feeling
people in Heaven, have.

She leads our conversations.

Not me.

I can feel, within,
what I may or may not ask.

I never touched her.

She never touched me.

But, I never felt a need
to touch her.

When Our Lady looks at you,

you have everything.

You feel loved, protected.

[Cries.]

That is why I say
you have no other desires.

I will share an example with you.

All mothers will understand.

I am a mother.

Like every mother,
I would give my life for my children.

But, when I am with Our Lady,

I don't remember them.

I am unaware that I have children.

I just want her to look at me,

and that I look at her.

You can imagine the pain
when she leaves.

I always tell the message,

then I go to my room, to pray.

Through prayer,
God helps me to understand,

and to go forward.

But, it is not easy.

It is not easy to be with Her,
and, then live this life of ours.

If it were not for God's help,
I don't know how we could do it.

These are the things
which I personally thought

are the most important.

And now, you.

You can ask me about
anything I didn't say.

If I can, I will answer
with my entire heart.

Don't hold back.
That is why we gather.

To talk about our Mother.

[Woman] I just wanted to say thank you.
You suffer so much, for all of us.

[Mirjana] I feel a bit uncomfortable,
when people say such things.

Our Lady teaches us
we are lower than everyone else.

Not that we are above, or special.

Look at me and you.

I am here.

You left your home and country behind,

despite corona,

despite everything,

you came to your Mother.

So, I'm not really sure
you are the one to thank me.

[Woman] It is easy to see you suffer,
lots.

[Mirjana] I think that
we all suffer,

when we see those who
do not want to know

the love of God.

Because, we know
what awaits them.

We can just trust in
the love of God.

I think he will judge us
by love.

Not the way we earned.

[Foreign language, laughter.]

[Unintelligible.]

[Laughter]

This is Medjugorje, for me.

When you see Americans,
Canadians, Polish,

we all speak about
the same Mother.

That is what Our Lady
here in Medjugorje

has been teaching us.

[Man speaking foreign language.]

[Laughter.]

[Mirjana] I didn't understand anything.

[Laughter.]

[A 2nd man] Same, here.

[Laughter]

[Woman] He asked, um,
How do you pray in your heart.

[Mirjana] I understand.
I will try to explain.

Our Lady says,
pray with your heart.

I will share the way
I understood it.

For me, prayer with the heart

is, that every word
that comes out of my mouth

goes through my heart.

For example, if I say "Our Father,"

that in my heart, I feel
that God is my Father.

So that, basically, I am living
the things I am saying.

As a sister, I would suggest

that you do not waste your time

judging your prayers.

For me, it's important
to try to pray better.

[Man: unintelligible]

Not one of us can say,
"I pray the way God wants."

"I am doing everything
the way God wants."

I am afraid of those people.

There is something wrong,
in that case.

We all try.

How successfully,
God will judge.

For me, it is important
that we all try to pray better.

[Woman] Do you think Our Lady

would allow you
to come to Canada?

[Laughter]

[2nd woman] We often wonder.

[Laughter]

[Mirjana] Thank you.

For Our Lady,
there is no such thing

as Canada, America.

The only thing she says is,
"Dear children."

So, in all of these years
of apparitions,

She never said "Dear Croatians."

She never said my name.

She says, "Dear children."

Anyone else?

Come on, don't be shy.

[Laughter]

You were full of questions, yesterday.

[Laughter]

All the things you asked me,

now you have a wonderful opportunity.

[Mirjana] If you remember something,
we can talk also today, no problem.

I will be with you during lunch.

Are you here eating lunch today,
or dinner?

[Woman] Lunch.

[Mirjana] Lunch. Okay.
I like that I am here.

[Laughter]

[Woman] Me, too.

[Mirjana] My brother, they are
serving dinner.

[Woman] Ohh.

[Mirjana] Okay, if you don't have
any more questions...

[Man] What would be the best way
to pray to know God's will?

[Man] Your own walk with God,

knowing that you are doing your best
to do the Lord's will.

A personal discernment.

[Mirjana] The best way
to understand that

is through prayer.

When I need to decide something,
I always pray.

Then, there are various options
ahead of me.

When I feel peace,

then I know I made a good call.

I always ask God to guide me.

Because, alone, I am not able to do it.

But with Him, I can do everything.

[Woman: unintelligible]

[Laughter]

[Woman] We feel the presence.
We just know God is with you,

and with us, and thank you, for that.

[Mirjana] Our Lady is always with us,
if we call Her.

One mother on earth. She will
never turn her back on her children.

Can you just imagine
Our Heavenly Mother?

It is enough to say

that we want Her,
and we need Her.

The fact that She is with us,
as She said in Her numerous messages:

"The fact that I am with you,
shows you how much God loves you."

To show us the true path.

It is up to us to respond.

There is a nice anecdote
with Father Slavko.

I don't know if any of you
met or remember Father Slavko?

That is his picture, over there.

He was my husband's uncle.

We saw each other
every single day.

One on occasion, he told me,

a lady approached him.

She told him, "When I pray,
my thoughts wander.

What do you advise, Father?"

He replied, "People who don't pray
don't have those problems.

So, insist."

We can finish with a Hail Mary.

[Man] In the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[All] Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,

Our Lord is with Thee.

Blessed art Thou among women, and

Blessed is the fruit of Thy womb,
Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

Pray for us sinners,

Now, and in the hour of our death.

Amen.

Pray for us.