Make good use of everything that Medjugorje offers, come along, and do not merely watch when others pray, visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti advises participants in next week’s Youth Festival. Mary counted on us from early on, and we had a beautiful time, Marija tells of her own youth.
Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti in Varese, Italy, November 2011. Photo: Daniel Miot, guardacon.me
Thousands of young people will meet for the Youth Festival in Medjugorje on August 1-6. A lot is being offered but to make the most of it, showing up in itself does not suffice, visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti told Radio Maria on July 25.
“We always say: profit from this time of grace and begin praying on the way here. We have the church, the chapel for Eucharistic Adoration, Apparition Hill, Cross Mountain: we have so many places that stimulate prayer, more so than anywhere else in the world” Marija said.
“We are preparing to welcome a sea of youth” Marija says – here from a previous Youth Festival in Medjugorje
“Here you will find people praying in the fields or just walking and praying the Rosary and you find yourself thinking: then I’ll pray too. Don’t just watch. I remember in (the late Medjugorje priest, ed.) Fr Slavko’s days we would even pray behind a bush or rocks on Apparition Hill” the seer continued.
“You can use one of her messages, Scripture, the lives of saints to feel God and His presence. Use the Psalms, we fell in love with the Psalms; they flow in your heart. We felt it, it was continuous prayer. Is this continuous prayer possible? It is waiting for you at Medjugorje.”
Being active or being a spectator: Medjugorje’s Youth Festival places a choice before the participants, and their outcome of the festival also depends on what they choose, says visionary Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti. Photo: Daniel Miot, guardacon.me
“Go to confession when you arrive, that the Holy Spirit, by way of the presence of Our Lady, can use us and form us. Help us. Many come and give you the impression of a broken vase, but Our Lady forms them into a beautiful vase” Marija said.
“There are so many examples of lives, of youth, who arrive in suffering. Even these last few days I have encountered youth lamenting problems. I replied “You are in the right place. Welcome. Our Lady was waiting for you, She will bring you to her Son. A thousand times over. Just proclaim your yes.”
With the theme “Lord, increase our faith”, the 23rd International Youth Festival takes place in Medjugorje on August 1-6
“We are preparing to welcome a sea of youth that will come for the 23rd International Youth Festival. It will be a great joy for us and we await all of you that are coming. We put all of you under Our Lady’s mantle. It will be grand, and it will be a thank you to Our Lord for everything that is being done through His Mother.”
Marija’s conversation with Radio Maria host Fr. Livio Fanzaga also made her remember her own youth. The visionary confirmed that the Virgin Mary was preoccupied with the young people long before the idea came up of a Youth Festival.
“She guided several groups. The first was for families, to get the families to pray together. Then a little at a time she began with a youth group, and we went along because we were so taken by this experience – it was a natural consequence of having apparitions. They would grab our hearts, our minds, our whole person. Sometimes we would pray all night” Marija remembered.
Marija during an apparition when she was 21, as young as many festival participants
“Then, to establish some order, she would call us to form a youth group. We would meet three times a week on Apparition Hill, then another group began in the rectory two times a week.”
“Our Lady counted on us from the beginning. In 1985 we were like goats running and praying all over the hillside. Then we began many other things, and today we can say it was the strongest and most beautiful experience of our lives.”
Antonio Miraldi transcribed and translated from Italian.
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