I first heard about Medjugorje in the summer of 1993. I was in the seminary. I was going to the abortion center every week in Louisville and met Debbie Womack, who is the organizer of this pilgrimage. She was living in Louisville at the time. She slowly introduced me to Medjugorje and asked me to go that year. Of course the war was going on already. She asked me to join her on a pilgrimage that she was leading. 

I was a young man in my twenties so to experience the great graces that came from Medjugorje, and there were many blessings that were there, but also in the midst of a war, it was kind of a dichotomy of war going on, but a sense of peace at the same time.

So the next year, the war was still going on when I went in ’94 as well. I remember one evening we were outside the house where we were staying and Mostar was being bombed. To hear the roar in the distance, knowing people were dying at that moment, but I felt such peace, and even though there was sadness, peace.

That was an evidence, at least for me, that Mary’s here, the Blessed Mother is here. If we have Christ, there’s always going to be peace even in the midst of conflict. 

At first it was jarring to me as a young man. Then the more I thought about it, the more I realized we have God’s peace. No matter the crosses, you’re going to be able to go forward.

So I had sadness and peace at the same time. It made me think about the Blessed Mother, not that I can compare myself to her, but what that must have been like to have that total peace at the foot of the cross. She had total peace because she was doing the will of God.

The first time I came in ’93, I didn’t know anything about Medjugorje. Obviously no Internet. It was just books and pamphlets and stuff. 

I remember telling my parents, I’m thinking about going over to this place. They knew Fatima and all those things, but they didn’t know about Medjugorje. So obviously, naturally, they were concerned like, “There’s a war going on. Why would you do that?” 

The more that I prayed about it and asked for some signs—you shouldn’t always ask for signs, but I felt like I needed them, like Gideon asking for signs to go into the battle—and whatever those signs were, I don’t remember exactly what they were, but they were all answered. Because of that—it was like one, two, three right in a row—that I realized, “Okay, this is where You want me to be.” 

In that sense, there was no skepticism that I needed to be here. Then the more I read about the messages and Medjugorje, I came to say, “I believe this is happening,” but at the same time, submitting it all to the Church. The church makes the decision, not me. 

There’s different levels. On the one level, to come over here to a place where so many people around the world come and to experience the kind of unity, the diversity of the church, with all the different nationalities and cultures but we come together in one. That strikes me as well, especially the International Mass, to see this is what it means to be Catholic. I feel at home here, mainly with the Mass. 

So that’s one thing, but also, I would describe it as a place that you understand what it means to have God’s peace that comes through the Blessed Virgin Mary. She intercedes for us. To experience that peace and then to know that you’ve got to take that back home. 

When I come over here, especially now, I come for myself as well, but I mainly come because I’m a chaplain, and so I’m coming and walking with people, to kind of watch them as they come and, especially the first time, maybe a little bit nervous. But in the end, there are many of them that don’t want to go home because they sense that it’s easy to pray. It’s easy to talk about God because you see it all around you.

I think that’s a beautiful thing. And then, of course, it can’t stay here. Most of us are not called—every once while, some people come and live in Medjugorje—but most of us were called to go back home and take this back out into the culture, what we receive here.

I see it as a place you come and get recharged or maybe get charged up for the first time. You realize what you need to do to go out and fight the battle. We’re in a major battle right now. I feel this is a place that is feeding the troops, so to speak, to go out and spread the message of victory.

Extraordinary things, like the miracle of the sun, I never experienced any of those things. Those are small things. I think my rosary turned gold my first year I was here.

St. John of the Cross said if you receive some kind of extraordinary miracle, you thank God for it, and then you forget about it. Because that’s not what our faith is all about. It’s not based on that. 

Of course, the greatest miracle is to see conversion of heart. And sometimes I’ve experienced that in confession. Someone comes in and you can see in that moment their life is changing. That’s the greatest miracle. 

I’ve not really experienced anything like somebody was crippled and started walking and things like that. Those small little gifts that Mary gives, whether it’s the sun spinning for people or various things, I always tell people to accept those, embrace them, but don’t go out and start talking about them to everybody. Because if they’ve never experienced it, they’re going to think, What’s wrong with me? Why didn’t I receive that? And that’s not what it’s about. 

God taught me in my first year in ’93. There were all these little miracles. After I made my consecration by St. Louis de Montfort, the cross at the top of the gazebo lit up. I remember asking Debbie, “Do you see that?” She said, “I don’t see anything. You’re receiving a gift.” And there were other things too. 

But the next year I came back, and there was none of that. The next year we went and visited a refugee camp during the war. Kids that had lost one or both parents were there. And that year, none of those little things, those extra things—that are beautiful and they’re little gifts—none of that happened. But that second year was much more profound than the year before.

Over the years, it kind of taught me that you don’t need those things and if you have them, you accept them, but then you move on because that’s not what our faith is all about. 

The biggest takeaway for me is that what happens here, yes, it’s a beautiful gift. Mary comes down and she’s been coming since ’81. What happens here really is what’s supposed to be happening everywhere. This isn’t supposed to be out of the ordinary. You can live the messages of Medjugorje and bring them into your life—which is the message of our Church—and you can set the world on fire wherever you may be. 

I’ve had some people, holy people, say, “I can’t come to Medjugorje,” and I remember saying to one lady, “You’re already living the message. There’s no need for you to come over here. If God was calling you, but don’t think that you’re not already living it. Our faith is the most important thing.”

To me, that’s the biggest takeaway of Medjugorje. Yes, it’s a good place to come, but it’s what we already have in every single church throughout the world. 

For us that come here, like you and me and other people, we’ve got to make sure that we take that and bring that back by changing our lives and then showing people how to live the message of faith. So it’s not to go back home and talk about Medjugorje all the time. It’s for people to see what is it about you that you have such peace and then you can talk about it, but then it ultimately leads to living out our faith wholeheartedly.

Love God. Go out and do good. Set the world on fire like St. Catherine of Sienna said. If we are who we’re supposed to be, we’ll set it on fire.