A while ago I was invited to lead a day on ‘the scriptural rosary’ in a village church a 30 minute drive away from Grantham. I was told to meet ‘a man’ at Grantham train station and let him drive me there; and so I did. As I arrived at this new location I was told ‘it is time to begin!’ And so I entered the room to be met by 10 people. I tried to begin with a conversion but people were very quiet. Helen then piped up to tell us she was about to go to Bosnia on a pilgrimage. I tried to connect the idea of pilgrimage to our devotional lives and encouraged Helen to tell us more. Helen then whipped out a magazine produced by ‘the children of Medjugorje’. She said there was an advert in the magazine that said there were free trips to Medjugorje for those who had never been there before. The group then laughed. Helen however was unperturbed and showed us the advert. She mentioned this to me several times during the day and told me to look into it, which I did. I was told by everyone I emailed that there were no free trips to Medjugorje. When I told Helen she told me she would talk to the person who made the magazine. I wasn’t very hopeful this would go anywhere. I assumed I would not have much contact with Helen again.

A week later Helen told me she had been in contact with Barry, who produced the magazine she had brought with her to the day. She told me Barry said his group would fund my trip to Medjugorje. This didn’t seem believable to me, people don’t just pay for someone to go to Bosnia (wherever that was). It sounded like a con, and so when went on to email Barry I began with a rather cynical attitude. He told me to book a pilgrimage with one of the tour companies and his group would pay for it. I told the tour company this, and insisted I was not going to be providing anyone with our bank details. Later on I received an email saying £600 was still due to be paid. ‘I knew it!’ I thought, this was some trick to get me to pay for a trip to Bosnia. However the tour company later emailed with a receipt of payment to show me the trip had been paid for in full. I was lost for words (a rarity). I was overwhelmed by generosity, from Barry who I had never met and from Helen who I only met for a day. I experienced this generosity as an object I was holding, and was unsure what I was now meant to do with it.

And so I packed my bags and headed off to London. Strangely there is a train station a 20 minute walk away from where I live, in Northumberland. I say strangely because in many ways it doesn’t make sense that I can get a direct train to London from Alnmouth. I got on the 7am train and headed off to Gatwick airport, unsure what the following week was going to hold in store for me. I didn’t have the name of the hotel, but was told a tour guide would meet us in Split and take us to Medjugorje. I was putting myself into the care of others. And so I got on the plane and headed off to Split, in Croatia.

By the time I arrived in Croatia I was quite tired. Getting to Medjugorje was a whole situation I won’t unpack here, but it wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be. Anyway, I finally arrived at the hotel at around midnight. The hotel was quite nice really. I’d initially been told I’d be in a shared room and only breakfast would be included. When I arrived I had a single room. I was then told supper was also included, so I was pleasantly surprised. The pilgrims also welcome me into their ranks and were very generous towards me. They even invited me out for lunch with them.

Each day had a schedule. Ivana our tour guide put this up on the notice board each evening. I hadn’t realised that ‘Mass’ was going to be such a prominent part of the day! The Mass in the evening was in Croatian but the morning one was in English.

The parish church has ongoing Masses in various languages. Before the English service at 10am there was a German language Mass and just after our Mass was an Italian one. The parish church is always packed for the Masses. When I entered I didn’t see the point of being at the entrance lobby area. I was thinking about what I was really doing when one of my group led me to the very front of the church and told me to sit down by the people in wheelchairs. This changed the entire experience, and is where I went to for each of the Masses.

In the afternoons the services are in Croatian, including the rosary. I was unsure what the point of this was (for me) but then I discovered a website that had the Croatian with the English this really helped me to engage. I also rented a little radio the English translation was played into. One of my pilgrim group took me to the little stall that rented these out. If I hadn’t been shown this I wouldn’t have known what to do or where to go. The outside church area sits 10,000 people at the evening services this area was consistently full. It was 30 degrees in the day, so in the daytime less people sat in the sun.

We met at the statue of ‘Our Lady’ at 7am and then walked up ‘Apparition Hill’ (mountain?) as we recited the Joyful Mysteries of the rosary at little stations.

Apparition Hill doesn’t fall within my definition of ‘a hill’. I was surprised by the number of elderly and sick people climbing up. I’d also thought 7am was far too early but it was cool and quiet. It was extremely hot in the daytime and literally hundreds of people climb this hill from the mid morning. As we were climbing down the real rush began.

We seemed to go higher and higher, but the views were wonderful!

We stopped at each ‘station’ marking the various Joyful Mysteries.

We then stopped by this cross. Ivana told us Our Lady appeared to one of the visionaries and asked them to pray for peace. This didn’t make a lot of sense at the time because the country had peace, but then war broke out. I don’t know anything about Croatia or Bosnia. I am aware Ivana is from a local village and I didn’t think it was the time to ask any questions about the history of the country.

When we got to the top of Apparition Hill we all spent time time in silence. It was beginning to get hot and there were very large groups beginning their ascent up the hill. I was surprised by how international the pilgrim groups were.

In the afternoon we were taken to a castle that had been built by a wealthy Canadian couple. I wasn’t sure what to expect, I thought it was an interesting concept. They appear to house visiting priests and in the past a visionary had an apparition on the little stage. During our visit the married couple gave their testimony.

The talk was translated into Slovenian. They all loved it and laughed at the little jokes. The English speakers were sat behind the stage, behind the spaces in the wall. I should have moved to sit with the Slovenians, but I did what I was told. I sense this ‘testimony show’ wasn’t aimed at me, I remember they got married on a hot air balloon and he had been an Anglican. I think this marked the ‘before’ period.

In the evening a few of the group went to light candles at the candle lighting area.

Wherever we walked anywhere we had to say the rosary. This was a prominent part of the week. We walked in 30 degrees through fields saying the rosary until we reached the Blue Cross, a famed apparition site. The group spent time in silent prayer here. We then walked back saying the rosary. It was far too hot for me!

I hadn’t realised the visionaries had claimed to have apparitions in various locations. Each location has been turned into a little shrine.

We were then taken to a chapel and the group said another rosary. I decided to sit in the shade outside and drink water.

The Provincial of the Franciscans gave a talk to the English speaking pilgrims. A thousand people attended this session.

The Children of Medjugorje paid for my trip. When I told a member of the group this information she led me to the founder’s house and we rang the doorbell. On that occasion she was out but it would have been interesting to meet her. I wanted to say, ‘Thank you!’

We were taken to a local town to visit the Franciscan church there. Our priest celebrated the Eucharist. We then sat outside and chatted over drinks.

The Franciscan church was quite interesting.

I enjoyed the times of Adoration and the veneration of the cross. There were around 10,000 people who prayed together silently for an hour, I found this quite moving. There were readings and short songs as well. The music at the services was very impressive.

Going to Mass was a large part of the week. I always sat at the very front with the people in wheelchairs. I sat on the floor. The church was completely full at each service.

I went to the Cenacolo, a charity that welcomes men with addiction difficulties to live together in community. They come in ‘dry’ and then work and pray together. The 20 minute video presentation of the sister who founded it was quite moving. A 23 year old member of the community then shared his testimony with us, and people asked questions.

I was allowed to have breakfast after climbing Cross Mountain.

I hadn’t fully appreciated that Cross Mountain was an actual mountain.

Groups stop to say the Stations of the Cross as they climb up the mountain. I was slightly perturbed when I was told people die while climbing this mountain.

The views from Cross Mountain were wonderful.

A view from the top of Cross Mountain.

A group picture of some of the group!

There were around 1,000 people at the English language Mass.

We all went to the 6.30am English Mass and then had breakfast.

I had a wonderful week in Medjugorje!

We all got on the ‘Paddy Travel’ coach and began our journey to Split airport.

Chris attempted to teach me how to juggle at Split airport, as we were waiting. I was truly awful. I noticed bored tourists laugh as I kept on dropping the balls. By the end of our time Chris gave me his juggling balls. I didn’t want to accept them, as he clearly treasured these but I also felt it would be rude not to. I said, ‘I will use this every day!’

I now aspire to learn how to juggle and to send the group of a short video of my juggling!