THE MYSTERIOUS ENCOUNTER: “OUR LADY CRIED ABUNDANT TEARS THAT RAN DOWN HER CHEEKS AND DRESS AND DISAPPEARED INTO THE CLOUD”
FR. Livio retells the powerful story of Marija’s dramatic moment with the Queen of Peace of Medjugorje:
“I had Marija accompany me to that exact place, so that she would tell me what had happened that Friday, June 26, 1981, the third day of the apparitions. When the Madonna said “Goodbye” and she went away, the visionaries and the people who had come in large numbers slowly walked towards the houses, descending along the slope of the mountain.
Marija, agile and fast, had preceded everyone, running down quickly. Suddenly, where there is a hollow called Lokvetina, she felt like moving to the left and immediately Our Lady appeared, alone to her.
Our Lady was very sad and cried, shedding abundant tears, which ran down her cheeks and dress and were lost in the gray cloud on which she was leaning. The Madonna held in one hand a large dark brown wooden cross.
Marija confided in me that she was greatly traumatized seeing Our Lady in such pain, and she was struggling to stand up. Why was the Gospa crying like that and what could be done to console her? The seer, who until then had remained rather hidden, suddenly assumed a prominent role.
On that occasion, the Queen of Peace gave the central message of Christianity in tears, valid for today’s man in a particular way: “Peace, peace, peace and only peace” she said as she moved the cross. And after her, still crying, she repeated twice: “Peace must reign between God and man and between men”.
The dramatic vision is full of meanings. Not even the seer Marija then fully realized the importance of the event, which constitutes a milestone in the history of the apparitions. Words and symbols form a whole and give an extraordinary expressive force to the celestial message.
The decisive point is undoubtedly the invitation to make peace with God, without which it is not possible to live in peace on earth. It is the same announcement of the angels on Christmas night and it is the greeting of the Crucified One, risen from the dead, when he appears to the apostles in the upper room.
Since its origins, humanity has turned its back on the Creator, pursuing the Luciferian dream of a life without God. Plunged into the darkness of lies and death, men have transformed the earth into a huge butchery. It is upon this chilling spectacle that the Mother sheds her copious tears.
Today the situation is particularly dramatic, because for the first time man has the power to destroy the earth and with it the entire work of creation and redemption. Humanity has reached the crossroads, evoked by Blessed John Paul II. He has the ability to turn the planet he lives on into a garden or reduce it to a pile of ruins.
The reconciliation of man with God was brought about by the cross, on which Jesus Christ offered his life to the Father for the salvation of the world. He must make us think of the close connection between the Cross and the gift of peace in the messages of Medjugorje. Indeed, it is thanks to the cross that humanity obtained forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God.
Our Lady weeps because, despite the sacrifice of her Son, in which she herself participated, men persist in their attitude of rebellion and contempt for the Creator. By refusing to become children of God, they turn into wolves towards each other.
Their claim to build in a new world without God is a harbinger of desperation and death. “You are creating a new world without God, only with your own strength; for this you are unhappy and you do not have joy in your heart” ( 01-25-1997). “God has sent me to you out of love, to help you understand that without him there is no future or joy and that, above all, there is no eternal salvation” (04-24-1997).
Today’s men, deluding themselves that they are the masters of the world, think they have everything under control and plan a happy future, where salvation will be the work of their hands. They do not realize that the eviction given to God paved the way for Satan’s plan to put himself in God’s place, destroying all that is beautiful and good ( 25 – 10 – 2008).
The urgency of the message of peace cannot be understood if one does not reflect on the real danger of a world at risk of self-destruction, as the recent Popes have repeatedly warned.
The Queen of Peace shows that she is in a hurry. Already in the third appointment with the boys, the second for the visionary Marija, she gives the main message, which is the key to understanding her long stay among us.
All the other messages, faith, prayer, conversion, fasting, penance are only means to achieve peace. In fact, men reconciled with God and having become his children, recognize each other as brothers and live in mutual love.
What must people have thought when Marija, coming down the path very slowly due to the strong emotion that had almost paralyzed her, told what had happened?
It was June 26, 1981. Exactly eleven years later, on June 26, 1992, the day after the festive celebration of the tenth anniversary of the apparitions, when the sun began to set and the pilgrims returned to their homes, the hills around Mostar began to crackle the cannons of the Serbian army.
It was the beginning of a long and bloody war between the various ethnic groups of the former Yugoslavia. It was about four years of destruction and death, which could have resulted in a world conflict. Was it not in Sarajevo that the spark had ignited that had ignited the “great war” of 1915-1918, with twenty million dead? What would have been the scenario of the world if the Queen of Peace had not come to ask for prayer and fasting, to stop the murderous plan of Satan who “wants hatred and war”?
I wondered why the Gospa wanted to give the fundamental message of her presence in Medjugorje through the visionary Marija, in an apparition reserved for her alone. Why didn’t she give it just before, on the podbordole, when all six visionaries were present? Wouldn’t the testimony have been more credible and effective?
Our considerations always fly low and seldom catch the celestial perspectives. From the beginning, Our Lady has shown that she has visionaries at will, with the maternal wisdom that characterizes her.
She made herself known to Ivanka, she let herself be sprinkled with water blessed by Vicka, she revealed her name to Mirjana. There is no doubt that choosing Marija to give the world the first message about her has a significant meaning.
In fact, Marija will be the seer that Our Lady will choose on March 1, 1984 to give regular messages to the parish and to the world, first every Thursday and then, from January 1987, every 25th of the month. Through her the Mother of the Word began a widespread work of evangelization that has no precedent in the history of the Church.
Who could have imagined that that shy girl would become the instrument with which the Gospel, interpreted and taught by Mary, would spread to the ends of the earth, feeding multitudes hungry for words of eternal life?
Marija told me that as soon as she arrived at the houses where people were gathering, she, who out of shyness did not dare to speak in public, gathered strength and courage and fearlessly proclaimed the message of peace. The tears of Our Lady are not easily forgotten. They mark life.
Vicka confided in me that she was always spared the displeasure of seeing Our Lady in tears. But she added that Our Lady, even when she smiles, hides a veil of sadness because of her children who get lost in her sin.
