Dan: I first heard about Medjugorje probably two years ago. My wife had mentioned it. I had never heard of it. Then we got Mirjana’s book. My wife read it, and I read it as well. It was very interesting to us. 

We had a sailing charter planned from Dubrovnik to sail the coast of Croatia. We got in a couple of days early, and some of the group were going to take side trips to various places in Croatia. We were like, “We’re going to go to Medjugorje.” It wasn’t even a question. I just felt called to come.

We got in around 11:00 in the morning, dropped our stuff off to the hotel, and took a walk up Apparition Hill. I think we cried at every station. It was a very moving experience for us.

Even before that, when we got into the town, we stopped at St. James Church and walked in. On the right hand side is the statue of Mary. We saw a family with young kids just kneeling in front of the statue, praying, and the outpouring of faith was just palpable.

The one word that I could use to describe the feeling that I got coming here was just peace. The experience on the mountain was very powerful and very moving. Praying at the statue of Mary at the apparition site and the cross up there, was extremely powerful.

The next day, we walked up Cross Mountain as two tag along pilgrims. We kind of joined in to an Irish group and followed along with the Stations of the Cross. To watch people walk up those sharp stones barefoot just showed the faith that the people had, the pilgrims as well as the locals.

Donna: The other thing that was impressive is on the right side of the church, the lines for confession were 20 people deep with like 30 confessionals. We didn’t know that it was just strictly Croatian speakers. We stood in line, and I got to the priest. He goes, “No speak English. Go four down.” 

I had no idea there was another side with all the international languages. I gave my confession, and I said, “My husband’s behind me. Would you listen to his?” Because Mass was starting up, and we didn’t want to miss it. 

Dan: He was one of the few local priests who spoke English. He was so kind and so understanding, very gracious to confused pilgrims. 

Donna: When we got back to our sailing trip, we were like, “We have to come back.”

Dan: We almost didn’t go back to the sailing trip. It was that powerful of a draw. It was like, “Let’s just blow off this charter trip that we’ve been planning on and just spend the rest of the week here.”

Obviously, we didn’t do that.

Donna: But we talked about coming back.

I did my Cursillo. I was invited and said yes immediately. I met a beautiful lady, Miriam Tierney, and she said, “Hey, we’re going to Medjugorje in March. You can come.” 

I said, “Really? I think we’re going to do it.” So I came home after my Cursillo, and I said, “Dan, guess what? We’re going to Medjugorje.” We got all the information, got ourselves registered, and here we are. 

Dan: Our first time here was kind of an appetizer and this was a seven course meal. I have learned so much from the other pilgrims that have been here. I describe myself as kind of being a child on this faith journey. I’ve got a long way to go, but I have learned so much from the other pilgrims that have been here and their life experiences and where they’re at. 

It’s very humbling listening to the priests, meeting Father Leon. He’s a trip. He was so entertaining, but yet to the point, respectful but telling it like it is. I’m type-A so I like everything on my time. God has a sense of humor because every time I’m in a hurry, He puts a roadblock up, saying, “Just slow down.”

It’s like, “I get it, Lord. You’re trying to tell me to be patient.”

Donna: Dan and I decided to go up Apparition Hill after lunch just the two of us and pray the rosary. We did the Joyful and then the Sorrowful Mysteries. It’s not an easy path, sharp shards sticking out of the earth, and millions of people have walked through. 

I looked at it like every shard is a sin, my sin, that I’ve put on Our Lord when he was scourged, the crown of thorns.

Doing the Sorrowful Mysteries, the first three were tolerable. Going to the carrying of the cross and the actual crucifixion, the shards were higher, deeper, sharper, and I was like, “Wow, this is what Jesus did for me.” I just felt that every one of those uneven, sharp stones was a sin that I had put on to our Christ’s body.

When we got to that beautiful monument, we put our hands on Our Lord’s back. You could feel the grooves of the lashes that we put on Him. I bawled. I just cried and said, “Lord, I’m so sorry I did this to You.”

I physically felt it and seeing it just brought to light that I don’t want to hurt Him anymore. I just want to be thankful. Then Fr. Leon said, “Guess what? You sin at least six or seven times a day.” I thought, “Wow.” 

Dan: We were up at the Blue Cross this afternoon. Being a part of the thousands of people that were there, I don’t know what I was expecting. I guess I wasn’t expecting much. I was just waiting for Our Lady. I wanted to be part of it. Seeing how many different languages were spoken, how many different nationalities are there, gives me hope for the world. With so much chaos in the world, it’s nice to know that other countries have devout Catholics as well and they have respect for Our Lady.

I was really anxiously awaiting Miki’s translation of the message. I wanted to hear it with everybody else. I immediately texted it to my family, and they were very pleased.

“Dear children, by the merciful love of God, I am with you. That is why, as a mother, I am calling you to believe in love – the love that is union with my Son. With love you help others to open their hearts to come to know my Son and to come to love Him. My children, love makes it for my Son to illuminate your hearts with His grace, to grow in you and to give you peace. My children, if you live love, if you live my Son, you will have peace and you will be happy. In love is victory. Thank you.”

Message from Our Lady Queen of Peace on March 18, 2024

Donna: We prayed for our children to come back to the Lord.

Dan: Yeah, mostly our kids. It’s natural for parents to worry about their children, but as Our Lady said, pray, fast, confess. You can’t worry about it. You just have to give it to God. 

Donna: Going up Cross Mountain, I was carrying a rosary. As I knelt down after the crucifixion, the crucifix came undone from the rosary. I was mortified. I thought, “Lord, what am I doing? What have I not confessed? What message are You giving me?” I was in distress as we were going up. 

Then I ran into my friend Miriam who has amazing wisdom. She goes, “Just pray to Jesus. He’ll give you the answer.” 

I kept praying. I’m like, “What does this mean? What do you want from me?” I get to the top knowing that there is a piece of the true cross in the cross on Cross Mountain. I prayed, “Lord, please give me a message.”

Our eldest daughter is Jackie. She’s expecting a baby. She’s 24 weeks this week. She’s struggling with her faith. I’m praying that as this baby grows, this baby will be a bond, bring them back to the Lord. 

There was a Jackie on our trip. I shared with her, “Jackie, I’m struggling. This became undone.”  and she was like, “Undoer.” I’m like, “Oh! I’ve got the Undoer of Knots on my wrist.” I realized a knot was undone for the good. I’m hoping that this undone knot was pointing to that my daughter is going to have some kind of faith experience when we get home. 

I just pray that we can bring this experience that we’ve had here home and not lose it, and not get sucked into the busyness of work, that we can bring it to all the people, just live this incredible love. 

Mirjana had said we’ve got a stone around our heart. We need to break that stone. 

I was given the gift of being able to participate in the Mass today. In my heart, I just felt this growth, this intense power of my heart beating harder and getting bigger. I felt love. To be able to be part of the whole ceremony with Father Rick and all the people and the music, it was so beautiful being able to worship our Lord.

To hear Mary’s message today was a perfect way to end this trip.

It’s been beautiful. I think we are going to grow so much more because of this. 

Dan: It’s a practice that we have every intention of trying to maintain as best we can. I know that we’re not going to be perfect, but the intention is there, like going to Mass more frequently.

Donna: Daily. We’re going to make our schedule change to go daily. It’s important to receive Him and then invite our children.