The incredible testimony of “The Secret Keeper” Father Petar Ljubicic, given at the Radio Maria headquarters in Medjugorje
I have followed the Medjugorje apparitions from the beginning. I met many friends and acquaintances around the world, visited many prayer groups that arose thanks to the Queen of Peace. They usually call me for spiritual rites, missions and prayer meetings of the Renewal in the Spirit groups.
In Medjugorje I saw and met many who converted and were miraculously healed; thanks to this I have gained great experience as a spiritual guide. My experiences have been published in the books “The Invitation of the Queen of Peace”, “It is the time of grace”, “Jesus, source of life”, “How should we pray today? Holy Mass, heart and soul of our faith.”
I have also published, in eleven volumes, the book of examples of encouraging and attracting callings and emotions.
Dario: Father, where were you during the first apparitions and what was your first reaction?
Father Petar Ljubicic: When the apparitions began I was in the parish of Tihaljina, located just 33 km from Medjugorje. I couldn’t be present those first days because I was preparing high school students for the sacrament of Confirmation. When I heard about apparitions of Our Lady to the visionaries, I immediately believed they were true. I was firmly convinced that the boys of Bosnia and Herzegovina would never joke about such things. At the beginning of July, after the Holy Evening Mass, I went together with a priest to the house of the visionary Vicka who was in the company of Ivanka. We asked them: “Have you seen the Madonna?”. Without thinking for a moment, they replied: “Yes, we saw it!”. To which my brother asked: “Is Our Lady as beautiful as you Ivanka?”. Ivanka, smiling, said: “Dear Father, if you could see Our Lady, you would immediately want to leave for eternity and look at her continuously. It has a beauty that I cannot describe with my poor words.”
As I believed then, I still believe today. I’ve never had any doubts. It’s curious, at the time I was reading a book that talked about the apparitions of Our Lady in Lourdes and Fatima. I don’t think it was a coincidence, because for us Christians there is no such thing as chance. The fact is that precisely in that period, the apparitions in Medjugorje began.
I asked myself “Why couldn’t the Madonna who appeared in other places appear here too?”. After that moment I used every free moment to go to Medjugorje, to confess and help in the best possible way.
Dario: When you met the visionaries, did you ask them to describe the Madonna?
Father Petar Ljubicic: Yes and they described her to me like this: an incredibly beautiful woman, around 20 years of age, one meter and 65 centimeters tall, with a light complexion and pink cheeks. She exudes unspeakable goodness, sweetness and joy. Her eyes are beautiful, an intense blue, she has black eyebrows and hair. She wears a blue-grey dress that covers her entire body and is lost in a white cloud that hides her feet and on which she floats. She wears a white veil that covers her head, shoulders and back and falls to her hips. She wears no jewelry, but she has a crown with twelve golden stars on her head.
It is impossible to invent this description. This was my first meeting with the visionaries. As I believed then, I still believe today. Dario: Father, can you say what Medjugorje represents for you? Father Petar Ljubicic: For me Medjugorje is a place of grace, a miraculous place. It is the Pentecost of our time and this has lasted for 39 and a half years. It is a place where shocking conversions occur, where many people who arrive tired, sick, betrayed and deluded, leave healed, transformed, strong and open to a life of testimony full of the Holy Spirit and the strength of the words of the Madonna. They come to Medjugorje full of fear and leave encouraged. They arrive with such gentleness and leave with the spirit of true witnesses of faith. Our Lady repeats to us what Jesus said from the beginning of his preaching: “Convert and believe in the Gospel”. Faith and conversion go hand in hand, because if we believe that God can convert us, we set out on the path of salvation, to which He calls us from Baptism to the end of our life on earth. In essence, Medjugorje is an extraordinary grace, a gift from God that helps us grow in our faith. In Medjugorje you can feel the real presence of God and the maternal love of the Queen of Peace. Several miracles have happened and are happening here. Medjugorje itself has become a great miracle.
Dario: Can you tell us your opinion, why does the Madonna appear?
Father Petar Ljubicic: My dearest ones, Our Lady appears because she wants to help us, because she loves us like true children! Our Lady usually appears where there is most need, where there are great difficulties and problems. She introduces herself as our Assistant and Lawyer who intercedes with her Son.
At the beginning of the apparitions you said: “Children, I see that men find themselves in such serious difficulties that they cannot get out of it on their own. So I came to help you.” With these words, Our Lady told us the reason why she came and why she, still today, appears to the visionaries. She wants to show us a sure path towards happiness and eternal life. But it is necessary that every day you talk about the great difficulties in which the world finds itself. We are not exaggerating if we say that we have never before experienced such a great, profound crisis and a distancing of faith in God. My dearest ones, Our Lady herself says that she has come to reawaken faith in believers. She came to teach us how we can firmly believe. The Gospa invites us to be attentive because the gift of faith is obtained with our effort.
This is the truth! It is an undeserved gift that we must nurture and protect to maintain. To preserve our faith and to grow in it, Our Lady suggests daily food, prayer, in particular the Holy Mass, the Rosary, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, often receiving the Holy Sacraments and reading the Bible.
Dario: Our Lady comes among us as Queen of Peace. What does this mean?
Father Petar Ljubicic: It means that today more than anything we need peace. Indeed, we can have everything the human heart could desire, but if we do not have peace, we really have nothing. Our Lady, Queen of Peace, has clearly told us that true peace can only come from Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. He is true peace: the peace that comes from Jesus is fullness of joy, total happiness, love and fruit of the Spirit. It is the greatest and most indispensable good to which we can aspire. An immeasurable divine gift with which God makes man happy, provided that he opens himself to Him, recognizes his own smallness and sinfulness and prays to him for this purpose.
Dario: What are the other messages?
Father Petar Ljubicic: The Queen of Peace always invites us: “Convert, believe in God firmly, pray with your heart and fast”, these are the messages. In order to have the peace we aspire to, the Virgin told us to firmly believe in God. Without a strong and active faith, it is impossible to achieve peace. It is a divine gift that allows us to give our whole being to Him, so as to hope in Him and live for Him. Faith is an act of self-giving, total complete trust in God. The Virgin desires that our whole life be permeated by this holy act of faith. A true and living faith is not possible without a daily conversion, for this reason, the Virgin incessantly invites us to convert. Conversion is the grace that always accompanies God’s steps. Converting means always seeking God, humbling oneself before Him, admitting one’s evil, one’s sins and repenting of them. Converting means returning to God by denying sin, Satan and his sinful desires. It means changing yourself, your way of behaving and your existence. Converting means uniting yourself more and more with God with your heart and with your being, becoming more sincere, just, honest, complete and holy every day. This is the task of our entire existence.
Medjugorje is increasingly becoming a place of great and shocking conversions. Many here begin a new life and purify their conscience in the sacrament of Reconciliation.
Dario: Our Lady has been teaching us for many days that we must pray with her heart. What does it mean?
Father Petar Ljubicic: you mean not to pray out of habit. Praying with the heart means above all praying with love and with the soul. It means praying with all of yourself, body and soul, with a pure heart, which means opening yourself up to God at the same time. Put Him first in your lives, abandon yourself completely to Him, give Him trust and hope for every good in Him. This means being disciplined and humble, dedicated and reliable. Give yourself to God in prayer.
According to Our Lady’s messages, praying with the heart means experiencing prayer as a joyful encounter with God. This leads to profound union with Jesus, thus meaning experiencing the beauty and greatness of the grace that God gives us. It also means receiving great graces. Praying with the heart means allowing God to remove all obstacles to overcome and allowing prayer to govern our heart at all times. Dario: Our Lady has asked in several messages to pray for the priests. Why, in your opinion, this particular attention?
Father Petar Ljubicic: Because priests are continuers of the work for which Christ came, died and rose again. Our Lady asks us to pray for priests so that they can fully carry out their priestly duties. Every priest is called to live a life in the footsteps of that of Jesus Christ, that is, in chastity, poverty, total abandonment to God and to be especially servants of Jesus. Every priest must be aware that there is nothing more beautiful, elevated, better and holy than announcing the good news of salvation, healing with the sacraments of Christ Jesus those who are oppressed and tired on the path of life. The recurring and common attitude is to criticize priests rather than help them in their delicate task, for this reason, Our Lady invites us to become aware of this and to pray for them, as even priests today are exposed to great trials and temptations.
Dario: What can we say about the secrets of Medjugorje?
Father Petar Ljubicic: When one evening 39 years ago I heard that Mirjana had chosen me to announce the secrets, I initially thought it was a joke. Subsequently, upon reflection, I understood that something so important cannot be joked about. This thought wouldn’t leave me alone. I wondered if this could be true. It was incredible that Mirjana had chosen me for this task and this mission. All this was a great honor, but also a responsibility. I can’t explain why, but there was no fear or anxiety inside me.
When I met Mirjana she asked me: “Do you already know that you too will have to announce the secrets to the world when the time comes?”. I replied: “Is all this possible? ”. It was difficult for me to find words and feelings to give an answer. I only know that I was filled with a profound sense of joy and security.
Dario: What can you tell us about the secrets and their contents? What message will they convey when the time comes for their revelation?
Father Petar Ljubicic: Secrets, as the word itself says, are secrets and at the moment we do not know their contents. It can be said that they concern particular events that will happen at a specific time and place. We don’t yet know when this will happen, but we have the feeling that with each passing day, we are getting closer and closer to that moment. The message of each secret will contain this teaching: the life that God has given us, the time we live are God’s gifts to us. It is important to use these gifts in an increasingly conscious and better way, truly committing ourselves to following Christ and working tirelessly for our salvation, that is, we must have it imprinted in our hearts at every moment. We must not and cannot live as if we were not accountable for how we live and what we do, but more than anything it is important to be ready to encounter the living God at any moment. If we live like this then we won’t have to fear anything and we won’t have to constantly wonder when this will happen. In this disposition, the soul is serene and we will always be ready to welcome God’s will in our lives.
Dario: You will reveal all ten secrets, how? Which of the 10 secrets contains the visible and lasting sign that Our Lady promised to leave?
Father Petar Ljubicic: When the time comes to reveal the first secret, Mirjana will give me something similar to a parchment the size of an A4 sheet ten days before. Our Lady gave it to remember when each secret would happen. All the secrets are written in it, but I will only be able to read and reveal the first secret. At that moment, I will only be able to see that secret and not the others. This will happen for each secret. Afterwards I will have to fast and prepare for seven consecutive days and then, three days before, I will be able to reveal what and where exactly will happen, at what precise hour and minute and how long what is contained in that given secret will last. Mirjana said that the first two secrets are related to Medjugorje and will be warnings and recommendations. Our Lady came to the small village of Bijakovići, parish of Medjugorje, where she has been appearing for 40 years. When those two secrets are revealed, it will be clear to everyone that the visionaries told the truth and that the apparitions are authentic. The third secret will be the visible sign on the apparition hill at Podbrdo. This sign will be a great joy for those who have welcomed these apparitions as a gift from heaven and from the Queen of Peace. This sign will be precise so that many will convert and return to God. We must never forget that now is the time to pray, begin a path of conversion, follow God and decide for Him, as afterwards it could be too late.
Dario: What could happen after the revelation of the first secrets? What will be the future of Medjugorje?
Father Petar Ljubicic: Our Lady has repeated many times that this is a time of grace. We can add that it is also a time of prayer, of conversion, a time in which we have the opportunity to purify ourselves spiritually and choose God with joy. Every moment of our life is very important and must be used for this purpose, for this possibility, that is, for this precious gift that Heaven gives us. We consecrate every moment of our life by abandoning ourselves completely to God in prayer. This will fill us with joy and it will be easier to carry the burden of this life. I am sure that the coming true of the ten secrets will help us all to be more serious and responsible, so that our conversion is sincere and true in our lives. We will certainly witness miraculous signs and great conversions. All the conversions and healings, spiritual or physical, of which we have testimony, are a sign that Heaven has opened above Medjugorje and that the Queen of Peace has come and stayed for a long time as had never happened before in the history of Medjugorje. ‘humanity.
The revelation of secrets will be a great joy and consolation for everyone. All those who have believed and committed themselves to living according to the Gospel of Jesus, as convinced believers, will be happy and at peace. We witness how every year a multitude of pilgrims come here to Medjugorje to pray to the Queen of Peace and their number will surely increase when the secrets are revealed. That will be a sign that will attract the attention of even those who had not previously listened to the Queen of Peace. The future of Medjugorje will however be positive, that place will represent even more of an invitation to prayer and an oasis of spiritual peace for everyone.
Dario: The moving conversions and miraculous healings are proof that the apparitions are authentic. Will the revelation of secrets be a necessary condition for the Church to recognize the apparitions of Medjugorje?
Father Petar Ljubicic: It is my firm belief that the Medjugorje apparitions have to date already shown concrete and valid signs of authenticity. You mentioned moving conversions and miraculous healings. Together with many others, two miraculous healings have already been scientifically proven. Now they are already sufficient to recognize the supernatural character of the apparitions. I recounted my experience with numerous Medjugorje pilgrims in my two books “The Invitation of the Queen of Peace” and “Time of Grace”.
During my stays abroad, the people I met told me that they could no longer imagine their life without the Queen of Peace and without the merciful love of God that they had experienced in Medjugorje. People recover from many different diseases, even considered serious and incurable. This is a tangible sign that God is acting through the intercession of the Queen of Peace.
The revelation of the secrets will however be a necessary condition for the recognition of these apparitions by the Church.
Dario: Father, in the end, what do you suggest and what do you want to communicate to everyone?
Father Petar Ljubicic: Dear ones, what else could I say other than repeating what Our Lady has been saying for 40 years. We must be grateful to God for everything. He as Father, loves us ardently and awaits our yes to his will, so that we realize the plan that he has for each of us. His plan, or rather his Holy will, is that we love him, that we always take him and his blessing into consideration in order to be able to live happily and then reach eternal salvation in a holy way.
It is necessary to say that today’s situation is truly chaotic, critical and very complex. Management crises have become a sign of our time, the world is also stuck in a great crisis full of anguish. That’s the least that can be said. We all agree on this, man has never been more uncertain, anxious, worried, dissatisfied, sinful and sick. He had never been in greater anguish and suffering than he is today. The present is the most important moment of our life and that of everyone. Perhaps our eternity depends on it now. Let us always remember, dear ones, that the present moment has been given to us so that, thanks to it, we may gain eternity. That’s why this is crucial. How great is the grace of knowing and acting, of transforming every moment of life into a moment of salvation for ourselves, for our brothers and sisters. Our Savior Jesus Christ today is looking for devoted, loving, courageous, intrepid and daring souls to reach those who are far from salvation.
Both Christ and we have never had a greater opportunity than we have now. God blesses, loves and saves all who hear these words.
Dario: Here Father, thank you for your coming and your testimony.
Let us all pray to Our Lady that this testimony may be of blessing and spiritual benefit to our listeners.
Dear Radio Maria listeners, thank you for your attention. At the end Father Petar will say a prayer of blessing for all Radio Maria listeners. Warm greetings and a blessing from God from Medjugorje. Peace and love.
Father Petar Ljubicic: Prayer for the morning blessing.
Merciful, omnipotent, eternal and good God, bless this morning, also this day that you have given me, may it become a day of salvation. The day that for me is hope for others and for everyone around me. It brings blessing, peace, joy and salvation. Bless me as I begin this day and everything I will do today, think, desire, everything I have asked of you and prayed to you for. May my work be a blessing to others and a source of true love and pure happiness. Bless my family, my children, my friends and all those I will meet today, those you will send me today. Let your powerful blessing help those who even today will feel the burden of life and anxious torment. Good God, You know that we are weak sinners, you know that temptations are great and that without your blessing we are not capable of bearing or overcoming difficulties, therefore we believe in you, may your love and your blessing be for us the strength and relief in difficulties and when we think we can’t do it anymore, be our rest, comfort for the afflicted, wounded and sad, sick and anxious.
Amen
