MEDJUGORJE

"Dear Children! With motherly love I desire to encourage you to love your neighbor. May my Son be the source of that love. He, who could have done everything by force, chose love and gave an example to you. Also today, through me, God expresses immeasurable goodness to you and, you children, are obliged to respond to it. With equal goodness and generosity behave towards the souls whom you meet. May your love convert them. In that way my Son and his love will resurrect in you. Thank you."

Our Lady added: "Your shepherds should be in your hearts and your prayers."

What is unique to this journey is staying 8 nights in Medjugorje which is known as the Oasis of Peace - the little village where our Blessed Mother has appeared to six children, now adults, reportedly these past 26 years and is still present daily to three of them. After our 8 day stay of peace and prayer, we are pleased to announce that we will be departing early from Medjugorje to Sarajevo, where we will experience a greater insight of Our Blessed Mother's messages. It will be a sobering, yet deeply spiritual journey as we witness some of the great tragedies that befell the whole area.

Sarajevo is known as the European Jerusalem as the major religions around the world are congregated within 100 m. of each other. There you will see Roman Catholic Church, the Jewish synagogue, Orthodox Church and Moslem mosque. In 1997, after the war, the late Pope John Paul II made a historic pilgrimage to Sarajevo, where "trampled and violated by hatred" he "went to trace - personally, after having spiritually covered it step by step - the furrow of a new path. He went to assert, challenging protocols of caution and cohabitation, the right which, beyond his own merits, every man deserves: that of knowing that he is loved. That he is not alone. And John Paul II went to Sarajevo and Beirut to strengthen - and possibly extend to all places - this dramatic cry for peace. 1" Recently, Pope Benedict XVI invited "representatives of the Islamic Leaders group to come to Rome for in-depth discussions. [HRH] Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, the president of the Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Jordan, revealed that he had accepted the papal invitation. The Jordanian leader indicated that he hoped to meet with the Pontiff in February or March 2008." 2 This indeed will be remarkable as "Vatican officials are determined to press their case for Islamic recognition of the right to religious freedom, especially for Christians living in predominantly Muslim countries."

We will overnight in Sarajevo at the notable Holiday Inn (the only functioning wartime hotel available during the civil war for the war correspondents in 1992-1995). The following morning, we will depart for home with renewed vigor in prayer for peace and a deeper understanding of the Gospa's messages.

Regarding Medjugorje, it is worthy of mention, it is Cardinal Vinko Puljic of Sarajevo, in the summer of 2006, who stated that a new commission to review the matters surrounding the apparitions of our Blessed Mother, who has referred to herself as the Queen of Peace, will be eventually formed. The Cardinal has recently made it clear that they have not yet received the directive from the Holy See and he stated not to speculate further on this matter. (Continued below)