date: 03.08.2015.
The central event today was the Holy Mass celebrated at 7 p.m. with Fr. Damir Pavic, parish priest from Brestovsko parish in the central Bosnia. The Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament followed when at the end all of the priests were among the faithful giving them blessing with their extended hands over them. At the same time, many priests were confessing all those who wanted to receive the sacrament of confession. Fr. Damir Pavic gave a morning lecture with the theme – From Slavery to Freedo, and then the testimony of Georg Mayr Melnhof from Salzburg (Austria) followed. He comes from a big family with ten children. He thought that he should become a priest, studied Theology for five years and then realised he needs to be preparing for marriage and not for priesthood. He is married for 13 years and has 4 children. He worked for 2 years as a director of one big company; he has three degrees in economy, theology and pedagogy. He is working as the religious teacher, and for the last 15 years he works as the pastoral assistant for new movements and communities in Salzburg Diocese. He is the founder of Loreto community that has 400 involved members and several thousands who are coming to organised events and congresses organised in Salzburg, like the one on the Feast of Pentecost that gathers 7000 young people. Sana Nassar from Lebanon also gave her testimony. She came to Medjugorje in 1986, long ago when she was still a teenager. Ten years afterwards she founded the Association „Friends of Mary Queen of Peace”. Thanks to that Association, Lebanese from Lebanon and all over the world got to know Medjugorje. The afternoon lectures began with the testimony of visionary Ivan Dragićević. Two married couples spoke after him, both from Italy: Giorgio and Marta Scarpioni, after their conversion in Medjugorje, devoted their life to the poorest children in Uganda. They are responsible for some humanitarian projects, especially for those mentally disabled and retarded children. They work in the pastoral for the youth and encourage young volunteers from all over the world to join them. The other couple that gave their testimony - Gianluca Anselmi and Anna Benedetti from Verona, both professional musicians, shared their life story full of crosses, but on the other hand filled with joy and love. (foto)
