God has a sense of humor

St. James Church

The next morning we went to St. James church for the 10am english mass and afterwards, met David one of the seminarians.  He invited us to go to a talk being given at a nearby building by a famous priest who he knew personally.  David told us that one of the visionaries, Mirjana Soldo gave a very powerful talk that morning of Our Lady's messages.  We were given a slip from the informations office later that morning which showed the message of Our Lady's apparition given that morning:
"Dear children; I am calling you to be one with my Son in spirit. I am calling you, through prayer, and the Holy Mass when my Son unites Himself with you in a special way, to try to be like Him; that, like Him, you may always be ready to carry out God's will and not seek the fulfillment of your own.  Because, my children, it is according to God's will that you are and that you exist, and without God's will you are nothing. As a mother I am asking you to speak about the glory of God wit your life, because in that way you will also glorify yourself in accordance to His will.  Show humility and love for your neighbor to everyone.  Through such humility and love, my Son saved you and opened the way for you to the Heavenly Father. I implore you to keep opening the way to the Heavenly Father for all those who have not come to know Him and have not opened their hearts to His love. By your life, open the way to all those who still wander in search of the truth. My children, be my apostles who have not lived in vain. Do not forget that you will come before the Heavenly Father and tell Him about yourself. Be ready! Again I am warning you, pray for those whom my Son called, whose hands he blessed and whom He gave as a gift to you. Pray, pray, pray for your shepherds. Thank you." 

Queen of Peace Statue

     The talk by Fr. Svetovar focused on many things, but what stuck out to me was living in faith means risking something for God.  Every act of faith and every act of love requires risk in ones life.  Also, he told us that being in a pilgrimage is where we learn to pray.  It is training ground for prayer because it integrates everything about your life and your willingness to be there for the Lord.  It's authentic understanding of Our Lady.  
   After another lunch at Colombos and some shopping at the hundreds of spiritual goods stores they have around, we ventured off to find Apparition hill, the place where Mary first appeared to the 6 visionaries in 1981.  We ran into the Seminarians on the way and they gave us vague directions.  To go along with our not-so-good luck and unpreparedness, it took us abou an hour and a half to find the path to go up the mountain. The sharp rocks were slippery with red mud from the rain that fell that morning. We

Top of Apparition Hill

struggled to climb up as we prayed the joyful and sorrowful mysteries.  We saw many elderly making the climb, and even some people in bare feet.  At the top, there was a beautiful Marian statue and a statue of the crucified christ directly behind it.  We joined the other pilgrims up there in prayer and laid down a rosary we had bought for each of the Bernardians before Our Lady and prayed for each person.  There was a very sick lady who was up there as well, and it was very difficult to see her in so much pain, but also touching to see that she was laying it at the feet of Jesus through Mary. It started to rain again so we made the slippery trek down.  Meanwhile, my boot completely fell apart to the point where my entire heel and sole was flopping with every step.  I couldn't walk any futher once

Shoe Struggles

we got to the bottom, so I dragged my feet over to a shop keeper who spoke english and he tapped up my shoe.  I can't imagine how ridiculous I must have looked drenched from the rain, muddy, with a big wad of tape around my destroyed boots.  My tape broke a few steps in and a car hit a puddle and splashed me with water.  At this point, I knew God must have a sense of humor.  We searched for more tape among all the religious goods stores, and finally came upon a shoe store where the horrified shopkeeper fitted me for a basic tennis shoe.  AFter walking into a german restaraunt in my pathetic state, we headed over to St. James church to experience night adoration.  After all the things that had happened to day, good but mostly difficult, I was looking forward to some personal prayer time.  However, the church was entirely packed and the chapel was closed.  Feeling overwhelmed, we decided just to go back to our hotel and have some quiet time there.  Why did you bring me here Lord? I;ve been asking a thousand

times today.  And yet, my heart is still open for whatever you wish to show me.