date: 10.10.2017.
On October 9, 2017, in the Hall of St. John Paul II, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of humanitarian work of the founder of Mary’s Meals, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow. Along with the parishioners and friends, the great international family of Mary’s Meals gathered there, who are in these days here for the occasion of the pilgrimage in thanksgiving for all they have received through Medjugorje.
„Mary’s Meals are a beautiful gift we received from God. If we are not immersed in the prayer and God’s love, it would not be possible to do anything significant. That is why we returned here for this big anniversary. I truly believe that Mary’s Meals are a fruit of Medjugorje. While I am travelling all over the world, I can see that the grace of Medjugorje is transforming and changing the world. Thanks to Gospa’s presence, the world has become much better place. I know that I do not know much, but I know that Mary’s Meals are a wonderful gift we received, but we also have a great responsibility because of that. I am especially grateful tonight to the parish of Medjugorje, to many people who have been supporting our work for years, I thank also Fr. Marinko for his support, as that is the great encouragement to us. Thank you from the depth of my heart for all. Please pray for our mission and for all who are a part of what we do. As we were engaged in this, our goal was always to honour our Heavenly Mother, so She would lead us all to Her Son. The numbers are amazing, as today we are feeding 1 230 171 children, but what is more important is the way we do this, so this would all remain one act of love“, said Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow.
Along with Magnus, his wife Julie was part of the programme, as well as the Mary’s Meals Ambassador Milona von Habsburg, the founder of Croatian Organisation of Mary’s Meals Željka Markić, and Gay Russel and Dalitso Mcheka who are directors of Mary’s Meals in Malawi.
At the beginning of this evening, the host and the parish priest of Medjugorje greeted all gathered and said: “This is the story of concrete acts, this is the story of love that became a bread.“
Croatian Post from Mostar was also engaged in the celebration of this anniversary by releasing special post stamp, introduced by Željka Šaravanja, Head of the department for Philately, who presented Mary’s Meals with the gift for this occasion. The author of the stamp, that is in use since October 9, 2017 is David Swift, and the stamp was printed in the printing house „Zrinjski“ Čakovec, its nominal value is 3,10 convertible marks.
Mary’s Meals were named after Mary, Mother of Jesus, and are a fruit of Medjugorje. Magnus, while he was a teenage boy, came to Medjugorje in 1983 with his brothers and sisters and that pilgrimage changed lives of their family. As he as watching horrifying scenes of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992, he decided to bring humanitarian aid here with his brother and that is how this amazing story began that later on developed to Mary’s Meals and changed lives of millions of children from all over the world.
Mary’s Meals are providing a warm meal for the hungry children in the poorest countries all over the world each day. For most of those children, this is the only meal they get on that day, but at the same time it is the meal that transforms their lives, satisfies the need for food and enables them to have education that could save them from the poverty in the future. 30 convertible marks is enough for one child to have daily meal each day as well as the education in one whole year. (photos)
