Bishop Petar Palić at the 37th Youth Festival: Christ is our Source and His Grace Never Stops Flowing

On Wednesday, August 5, 2026, the last evening of the 37th International Youth Prayer Festival in Medjugorje, the Holy Mass was celebrated by the Bishop of Mostar-Duvno and Apostolic Administrator of the Trebinje-Mrkan Diocese, Msgr. Petar Palić, with the concelebration of the Apostolic Visitor with a special role for the parish of Medjugorje, Archbishop Aldo Cavalli, and 689 other bishops and priests. Before the Holy Mass, the young people brought a canvas on which the participants of the Youth Festival wrote their prayers, intentions, thanksgivings…

''These days we have prayed together, listened to the word of God and sought the Lord. At the end of these meetings, the Church once again places the Holy Scripture before our eyes. It is not the conclusion of these days, but the key to understanding them. "That is why I invite you to open your hearts to God's word tonight as well," said Bishop Palić at the beginning of his homily, continuing that the prophet Jeremiah today proclaims the word that has carried God's people for centuries: "I have loved you with an everlasting love." And that with that word in our hearts we also listen to today's Gospel, which describes Jesus' encounter with the Canaanite woman, who approaches him with the faith and asks for help.

"Jesus did not stop at her words, but looked into her heart. He recognized the faith that did not waver in silence, in temptation, or in the face of what she did not immediately understand. That is why this woman remains a permanent witness that the Lord never leaves a person who comes to him with trust without an answer," said Monsignor Palić, continuing that "here today's word of God and the motto of this year's Youth Festival meet: Ad fontem - To the source."

"The Canaanite woman did not know how her encounter with Jesus would end, but she knew who she could confide her pain to. That is precisely what the faith is. It does not remove all questions, but it gives a person the support to get through them," said Bishop Palić, explaining to the young people that "we often think that we set out to seek God, but over time we discover that He was already on the way to us."

"Many of you have come to Medjugorje these days with your own intentions. Some came to give thanks, some to seek peace, some to bring questions that still have no answers. It is important that the journey does not stop at the beautiful experience of these days. The motto Ad fontem invites us to go and to continue to seek the source from which life constantly springs.

That Source has a face. It is Jesus Christ. That is why the Church always gathers us around the Eucharistic table. In the Eucharist, Jesus Christ gives himself to us and remains among us. "From there the Church lives and from there it always begins anew," said Bishop Palić, continuing that the Blessed Virgin Mary accompanies us on this path, directing us to her Son and saying: "Whatever he tells you, do it!"

"Her mission is always the same: to bring man to Christ, the only Source of life. This was also deeply understood by Saint Francis of Assisi. From the encounter with Christ in the Eucharist, he drew strength for his life and his mission. He did not seek extraordinary signs. The presence of Christ in the Eucharist was enough for him.

These days, we have also experienced here how human weakness can leave painful traces. But we have experienced even more strongly that nothing can overcome the presence of Christ among his people. Around the same altar, the Church gathered again and continued to celebrate the Eucharist. This is the response of faith. Christ is our Source and his grace never stops flowing," said Msgr. Palić, and "in that spirit" he also recalled the Day of Victory and Homeland Gratitude.

''While in Croatia today we thank God for the gift of freedom and respectfully commemorate the Croatian defenders, we cannot forget the many people from Bosnia and Herzegovina who defended Croatia during the difficult years of war, as well as those from Croatia who defended the homes and lives of people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their sacrifice does not call us to live from the memory of war, but to build peace even more responsibly.

Dear young people, many of you come from regions that bear the wounds of war or still live in the shadow of conflict. Therefore, do not let hatred find a place in your heart. Pope Leo XIV often reminds us that peace does not arise by itself. It begins in the heart of a person who allows Christ to change him. Be peacemakers. "The world today needs exactly such disciples of Christ," said Bishop Petar Palić, calling for the motto Ad fontem not to remain just the theme of this year's meeting, but "the path by which we will return to Christ, because only from him springs the life that never passes away," and then concluded: "And may one day the Lord speak to us the words he spoke to the Canaanite woman: "Great is your faith."

After the Holy Mass, there was adoration of Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, then mission and farewell. Representatives of all countries participating in the Youth Festival received a gift in front of the altar - a rosary, which was presented to them by Bishops Pallić and Cavalli.

"Dear young people, accept the rosary, i.e. Mary's hand that she offers you to walk through life with Jesus and Mary and to learn from them! "Be evangelizers in your family, in your city, in your country," said the parish priest of Medjugorje, Fr. Zvonimir Pavičić, and Bishop Palić, to the young people to go out into the world, into their countries, into their families, into their parish communities and give them what they have received here.

The afternoon program began today at 4 p.m. with a song and dance performed by the dancing and playful members of the Cenacolo community, who testified to the young people about the most diverse types of addictions, anxieties, traumas... from which they were freed thanks to Our Lady's love, and invited us all to say our 'yes' in trust in God.

In the morning part of the program, catechesis was held by Fr. Bojan Rizvan, who invited the young people to imitate the love of St. Francis for Christ and Mary, and this love is imitated by Sister Mariana Kovačić from the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity, who in her testimony told the young people not to be afraid to say their 'yes' to Jesus. In her testimony, Draženka Čutura spoke about her son Stjepan and how his life, illness, and death became an inspiration to many, who, thanks to his suffering, returned to God's path.