date: 15.03.2014.
Fr. Grgur Blažević is a member of Franciscan Province of St. Cyril and Methodius. He was born in 1978 in Zagreb and was ordained last year on June 15 as a priest. Today he is a parish vicar in the parish of St. Nicholas in Čakovec. His father Grga comes regularly to the Queen of Peace as a pilgrims and he is also group leader for the last few decades and brings groups here. Fr. Grgur said that Medjugorje formed his family, especially his parents that brought the spirit of Medjugorje into it: “After my parents experienced the special affections towards Medjugorje they started to live all of the messages and they wanted us to understand that. To be honest, we did not understand that, we were “children of this world” and we could not understand that our parents wished well to us and that it was important to live in the Christian way, in the way Our Lady was inviting us to live, to pray in the family, to live sacramental life and to read the Holy Bible. My dear parents invited us to prayer every single evening. That was really boring for me, made me tired and I could not understand that. But the prayer that our parents were placing in our family for many years, had later on brought many fruits”, said Fr. Grgur who was coming to Medjugorje as a child with his parents very often. He also recalled his first arrival in 1984: “I was little, but I remember everything. I knew I was going to the really special place because my mom spoke to me about that and I was hoping to see Our Lady. We slept in the church, in the bus and it was all much different than today. There wasn’t any luxury. Thank God that Medjugorje had developed today, that pilgrims have places to eat and to sleep, and they are able to buy souvenirs. What I recall the most is the incredible joy of my mother, while I, as a child, could not understand anything that was happening there and I only wanted to get back home as soon as possible. Despite being tired, hungry and exhausted, my mom was always happy and kept saying to me that all would be well. Later on I found out that my mom was healed in Medjugorje.” Fr. Grgur said that he started coming to Medjugorje with love after he received his vocation, and his vocation was not the direct fruit of the apparitions in Medjugorje, but surely was influenced by it, especially through the parents to whom Mary had changed lives and had drawn them to Jesus. “The main influence was the fruit of prayer in our family and I believe it was in that atmosphere that my vocation was born, regardless of the fact that no one could have ever dreamt of that”, said this young Franciscan.
