Peace Walk

On Sunday, June 24, on the feast of St. John the Baptist, we celebrate the Eve of Our Lady’s Apparitions in Medjugorje. Traditionally, each year, we will meet outside the monastery of St. Anthony in Humac and begin the walk there. Pilgrims are to arrive outside the St. James’ church at 10 am. We invite all pilgrims and parishioners to come and to join us in this walk. Holy Masses in Croatian language will be at 7, 8, 11, 1 and 7 pm. We will not pray the Rosary on Apparition Hill on that day. The Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will begin at 10 pm for one hour with meditations, and silent shall continue until 5 am on the following day.

Peace Walk is a walk of prayer held from Humac to Medjugorje and initiated in 1992. Ever since that year, it is held each year on the Feast of St. John the Baptist, the eve of Our Lady’s Apparitions. In the beginning, the priests carried the Blessed Sacrament, later on the Statue of Our Lady and now they carry crucifix, while all others are praying and walking behind. The initiator of this Walk was German man, Hubert Liebherr, with the blessing of Archbishop Frano Franic and Fr. Leonard Orec. However, late Fr. Slavko Barbaric, was the heart and the soul of this Walk all of the years until he died.  This is what he wrote about this Peace Walk: „On June 24, the Peace Walk was held and a large group of pilgrims from all over the world and with their hosts, walked for 11 kilometres out of the gratitude for 11 years and with their plea for peace.” After the second Walk, on June 25, 1993, their participants gave the Plea of Peace to all world leaders. It was written, among other things: “We – united with 20 millions of pilgrims from all over the world – demand that you undertake all necessary actions to stop this war at Balkans and to establish peace that would be founded on righteousness!” (Glasnik mira, June 2017.)