date: 03.03.2017.
The 24th International Meeting for Organisers of Pilgrimages, Leaders of Peace Centres and Medjugorje Prayer and Charity Groups held with the theme „That your love may increase ever more (Phil 1, 9)“, began on Monday, February 27, and finished on March 3, with the Holy Mass of thanksgiving, celebrated by the coordinator of this Meeting, parish priest of Medjugorje, Fr. Marinko Sakota.
There were 271 participants from 28 countries. Apart from the special programme and lectures, all participants had opportunity to join the regular evening prayer programme held in the parish church of St. James.
This is what Fr. Marinko said at the end of the meeting: “These are beautiful encounters, as we always renew ourselves and return to the source of everything, to what our Mother tells us and to which she is inviting us, so we would be renewed and enabled to help others, to lead others to pilgrimages and to organise pilgrimages ourselves.”
Lucija Salov, from Nin, little town close to Zadar, Croatia, has been participating for several years in these meetings. Somehow, that is always a new experience, she said: “We serve by bringing people here, but in order for us to be able to do so in the proper way that would bear fruits, we ought to be prepared for that. This is a sort of a spiritual retreat for us. When we bring pilgrims here, we do not have time for ourselves and for living Medjugorje in the best way. That is the purpose of these seminars. Medjugorje is a place of grace and prayer. To describe it, it is simply impossible, since each person experiences this in a different way. I think that, regardless of how many times one comes here, Medjugorje is always new, it always renews us and gives us something different. This is the source of everything. Back in 90’s, I came here for the first time with my parish. I stopped counting my trips here. I feel Medjugorje is a huge gift to us.” (photos)
