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Marija's Testimony

Marija gave the following testimony on the Vigil of Pentecost at St. Mary and St. Michael Church, London.

I want to greet all of you with all my heart, and through this witness of mine, may you come closer to Our Lady and her messages. In 1981 Our Lady started coming to us.

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We were believers and come from families who pray, but through this presence of Our Lady, Queen of Peace, we saw a great change in our lives, in our families and in our parish. Our Lady worked in the hearts of many people, particularly those who were open to receive her messages.

When we first saw Our Lady we were scared and ran away - we could not imagine that Our Lady would appear to us, but she actually chose us. She once said to us "God allowed me to choose, and I chose you." But she also chose many other people who are open to her messages. Many vocations have taken place through Our Lady's presence, and now many parishes have a pastor through Our Lady of Medjugorje.

One grandmother told me that she kept asking her grandson to go to Medjugorje and light a candle for her. He used to work in a hospital but he was a drug addict and an alcoholic. One rainy day he went to Medjugorje to light this candle for his grandmother. Someone told him he could not come to Medjugorje and not climb the two hills. When he climbed Krizevac he felt the need to kneel down. He was healed and he also felt in his heart a vocation to the priesthood.

He became a priest and worked with a cardinal who was a friend of John Paul II. This cardinal was in a wheelchair and Stephano used to push the wheelchair when they went to lunch with John Paul II. Many times after lunch the Pope would ask Stephano to witness how he got his vocation. He did this so many times that sometimes he would try to make it shorter, but the Pope would say 'Stephano , you forgot something.'

Every one of us can speak of our own experiences of Our Lady. Our Lady is asking us to pray and she told us to have prayer groups, but the first one has to be in our family. In this month of May in a special way we should pray the Rosary. Our Lady is asking each one of us to be her outstretched hands.

Many times we ask ourselves 'who do we belong to?' - a parish, a certain group. Many times we forget we belong to Jesus, who has suffered and died on the cross for us, but above all, the one who was resurrected. Saint Paul says that our faith is in vain if there is no resurrection.

Unfortunately many times we act as if we believe Christ died but didn't rise. We witness our faith with sadness. Our Lady says that our faith has to be joyful and that we should give example with our lives. She calls us to be witnesses, and to be her extended hands. That is why Our Lady has been appearing to us for so long, why Jesus sends Our Lady for so long.

Through my witness I want to help you, to show that we are normal, not crazy. Many times journalists think that our apparitions are hallucinations. We have certificates to say that we are normal. Through this simple witness we can really touch the hearts of many. Our Lady chose us, but not because we are better than others. Once we asked Our Lady why she chose us and she replied 'God let me choose and I chose you. God, even today, walks among us and operates in us.

There was a couple who had no children for many years. I told them that Our Lady says, 'pray, go to confession and adore the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.' Then I saw the miracle of a baby coming to this family, when doctors had said it was impossible. They also now can witness. There was a sick lady sent home from hospital when the doctors had said they could do no more. She started praying 'Lord have mercy', and for her children too. She couldn't lie down because of the tumour she had, and one night she feel asleep crying, with this picture of Our Lady on her chest. She woke in the night and started feeling better. She could breathe and she had no more problems.

There are many, many stories like this, but most important of all is when the hearts of people change. We are just simple people and we are not important. We didn't know how to meet people, but Our Lady said 'open your houses', and then we opened our hearts. People were coming all the time, we would share bread, tell stories and pray with these people. We started climbing the hills at night. Vicka's grandmother told us to take holy water and throw it on the apparition. Our Lady smiled and said 'I am the Mother of God, and I came here as the Queen of Peace.'

Through prayer and fasting we can even stop wars. In the Bible we are told that certain evil spirits can be cast out only by prayer and fasting, so we started fasting and prayed more. Teenage boys are able to go to discos all night, so we thought we could pray all night. We asked our parish priest for all night adoration, so we started this way of prayer which has not been easy. We would sing and pray but at about 3 a.m. we became very sleepy. Some of us even started to snore, so we called that 'deep meditation'. So we tried to keep each other awake and during the critical hours we would sing and read the psalms as it is easy to fall asleep praying the Rosary.

Some of us got engaged and then married, and we went to pray the Rosary with the newly weds. Sometimes they fell asleep, and when they got a dig in the ribs they would wake with the words 'Hail Mary'. I am inviting you to be witnesses with your lives. We don't need to go to Africa to be missionaries, we can do it in our own families.

Tonight I prayed for you in a special way at the moment when Our Lady appeared. I asked Our Lady to bless you, and she did and she prayed over us. I'm sure tonight she also said to you, 'Thank you for responding to my call.' I want to finish this witness with a prayer for you, for all our needs and all that is in our hearts. We pray at all these meetings that Our Lady will bring us to Paradise. I remember when Our Lady said she would take Jakov and Vicka to Paradise, Jakov asked Our Lady to just take Vicka as he was an only child. So many times we are afraid of going to Paradise. Our Lady says, 'don't be afraid', because God made us in his image. Our life is like a flower, quickly over.

In the same way, Our Lady wants us to witness in this world with joy and to be grateful to God, and then we will be able to witness for all generations.