Day 1 (September 14th)
After a late arrival, we got to sleep sometime between 1 and 2am. We were up before 8am, though, ready to go! We walked to town (a bit far from Mica's) and got some bread & water to eat (Wednesday's and Friday's are recommended fasting days). We looked through some shops, visited the Statue of the Risen Christ, and went to English Mass at St. James.
Mass in Medjugorje is always special, this was no different. I counted 29 priests presiding over the mass, and of course the church was packed -- standing room only, and just barely. We arrived early, so were were blessed to sit in a pew near the front. Today was a feast day celebrating the "Exaltation of the Cross" -- we listened to a great homily about accepting your cross.
Some of the things we spent the rest of the day doing (some together some separate):
- Statue of the Risen Christ
- Shopping
- Climbed Mount Križevac (Cross Mountain)
- Confession
- Adoration
- Multiple Rosaries
- 2nd mass
- Veneration of the Cross.
St. James, Medjugorje
St James from the back. At 5pm the rosary was said here, followed by the Croatian Mass at 6pm, and Veneration of the cross at 7pm. The entire seating area was filled. There were 50+ priests presiding over Holy Mass. The 3 hours flew by! Note: We made good use of our radios for translations during Mass.
Schedule and maps
Statue of the Risen Christ
Cross Mountain
Many of the local villagers climb Cross Mountain on Friday, visitors are welcome to join. I joined with them and together we prayed the Rosary and the Stations of the Cross as we climbed the mountain. Some people climbing the mountain chose to do it barefoot:
The Cross on the top of Cross Mountain
Medjugorje from Cross Mountain
Apparition Hill from Cross Mountain
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