2015 Youth Festival Report - Medjugorje-mir,mir,mir

The 26th International Youth Prayer Festival Report

Medjugorje, July 31 – August 6, 2015

“Peace be with you!” Jn 20,21

Day 1

Day 2

Fr. Stanko Cosic , parochial vicar of the parish of Medjugorje, and Fr. Marinko Sakota , parish priest of Medjugorje, lead us with great sensitivity by the program. Very moving and brought to the point were preaching and candle meditation to conclude the evening.
505 priests concelebrated.
About 163,500 Internet users were connected to us:
German 48,900, 21,250 Croatian, Korean 4,600, 39,400 Russian, Slovak 19.200, Chinese (Mandarin) 2,100, Chinese (Cantonese) 1,950, 13,800 English, Italian 4250, 2,100 French, 3,050 Spanish, 2,900 Polish
Morning Prayer - Fr. Stanko Cosic praying with those present "... Lord, we seek your views, to know the truth ..." catechesis on fear - after a video clip illuminated Father Stanko the topical issue. Calum and Mary Anne MacFarlane-Barrow report on their house of prayer in Scotland, Craig Lodge, whichstarted after a visit to Medjugorje. Mary Anne calls everyone to live the messages of Our Lady, especially to 'decide for God'.
Kate from Ireland has spent a year in this community and tells about her experience
Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, founder of Mary's Meals and is one of the five sons of Calum and Mary Anne Magnus reported on the mission of Mary's Meals , which is a fruit of prayer,
Christian Stelzer of Austria has come to know Mary's Meals in Medjugorje
Zeljka Markić - about the work Mary's Meals in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Jakov Colo  spoke about how important each person is, how important we are.
Father Sito Coric - singer and musician, who is celebrating this year 30 years of his missionary work in Switzerland as well as 40 years of his priesthood talks about the love of God
Fr. Stanko Cosic , parochial vicar in Medjugorje, held the Candle sermon meditation with prayer around the cross - designed by Fr. Marinko , parish priest of Medjugorje

Day 3

The programme of the 26th Youth Festival in Medjugorje continued on Sunday, August 2, 2015. Morning was reserved for the Holy Masses in different languages, and the programme continued at 4 p.m. with the prayer and testimonies. The visionary Marija Pavlović Lunetti spoke first and then Leticia Blanco Gordon from Peru gave a testimony on how the community "Apostles of Mary, the Queen of Peace“ in Peru was established. It was the community that is fruit of Medjugorje. Along with Letitia, the other members of the community came to thank God and the Queen of Peace for 15 years of their work. She said they were blessed to have 7 nuns from enclosed order who asked for a special permission from their bishop to come here. Gottfried Prenner, lay theologian from Austria spoke in the second part of the programme. He experienced his conversion in 1984, during the apparition of Our Lady. For the last 13 years he works as a missionary in Eastern Europe, Germany, Kosovo, Palestine, Brazil, Ruanda and many other counties. During the time when he preaches and gives lectures he speaks about apparitions in Medjugore and is forming prayer groups. The Holy Mass at 7 p.m. was again the central part of the programme, with Fr. Filip Pavlovic as the main celebrant. He was ordained last year, comes from Bijakovici, Medjugorje parish and is serving in Zapresic, Croatia at the moment. The homily was given by Fr. Ivan Filipović, former member of Cenacolo community, while 407 priests concelebrated. At the end of Holy Mass, the procession of young representatives of each country was held outside the White Dome in the shape of a heart. After the Statue of Our Lady was brought back at the altar, the Adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament followed
407 priests celebrated Mass. Procession with the statue of Our Lady and we were consecrated to the Mother of God. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
This Sunday there was 178,000 viewers watching via the live stream.

Day 4

Fr. Marinko , parish priest of Medjugorje, brought the 10 commandments of the serenity of St. Pope John XXIII.:
Father Marinko began with morning prayer.
Father Damir Pavic spoke about our dependencies on mobile, media etc.
Georg Mayr-Melnhof from Salzburg / Austria gave a lecture on the topic: "How do we get from captivity into the wild." He went to Medjugorje in 1983. He founded a prayer group Loretto, which has become the largest youth movement in Austria.
Sana Nassar came from Lebanon in 1986 as a teenager to Medjugorje. Ten years later, she founded the association " Friends of the Queen of Peace" whereby all of Lebanon and the Arab world from Medjugorje experiences. She also talked about their experiences and about Medjugorje in Lebanon .
Visionary Ivan Dragicevic spoke.
Giorgio and Marta Scarpioni from Italy, talked about their lives amoungst the poorest children in Uganda. They also supervise some humanitarian projects, not least, they devote themselves to mentally handicapped children.
Giancula Anselmi and Anna Benedetti are parents of a disabled child, living in Verona. Both are professional musicians.  The Holy Mass was celebrated by Fr. Damir Pavic. Adoration of the Blessed sacrament followed.

Day 5

The Holy Mass concelebrated by 540 priests and 170,000 users watched via Internet with Medjugorje.

Morning Prayer by Father Stanko.
Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic held the catechesis on prayer.
Silvia Costa, 23 years old girl from Sicily in Italy, gave her testimony about her love for Medjugorje and Croatia. She spoke in Croatian, as she is a student of school for interpreters. That love comes from her love for Gospa here in Medjugorje.
Father Marin Koracic is a newly ordained priest in the Herzegovinian Franciscan province. At the festival, he talks about himself, about situations in his life and he says a priest is a man of the people for the people. He then testified his faith with songs.  
Testimonies of the Community Cenacolo : Don Massimo - a "happy" community priest, as he himself says members and Sisters of the community testify.
Ignatius from Argentina tells about his life, about the deep peace that he met in the Community.
Beatrice from Brazil was adopted atfive years - felt baseless.  
Andres from Spain came to the community with drug problems. There he realized that the cause of his problems were his internal wounds.
Simon from Bosnia and his life in the community.
Ivana was born in the war years; took drugs.
Holy Mass - celebrant is Fr. Ivan Maric; Homily by Fr. Ljubo Kurtovic.
Then Cenacolo staged their play Credo.

Day 6

Theme of the day: Forgiveness is the path to peace - healing our inner wounds
morning prayer by Fr. Marinko Sakota
"Be merciful, as your Father also is" Father Marinko Sakota , parish priest of Medjugorje, holds a catechesis on peace, inner wounds , forgiveness and pardon.
Sr. Rastislava Ralbovsky from Slovakia has already organized 4 pilgrimage for disabled people to Medjugorje - a true labor of love. The peculiarity of the trips is that the pilgrims from the parish members for free are included.
Visionary Mirjana Dragicevic Soldo spoke.
Terezija Gaziova from Slovakia is a translator for the Soviet bloc countries in the parish of Medjugorje and co-founder of the Centre "Light of Mary". She tells about the diverse humanitarian work of the Centre, which has emerged from Medjugorje, among others, the international initiative "The uninterrupted prayer and fasting", where everyone online can register.
Immaculée Ilibagiza from Rwanda survived the massacre in 1994. Our Lady appeared in Rwanda, and as in Medjugorje, called again and again for prayer, fasting and forgiveness, but "we did not listen." - then came the genocide and within 3 months 1 million people were killed.
Holy Mass celebrated by Fr. Marian - the Gospel and homily by Fr. Marinko.
508 priests participated in concelebration.
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament Then we had the Mission "go forth and proclaim the Gospel"
Final part was the farewell with songs.