Apparitions of Our Lady in Medjugorje

To avoid duplication, we will consider Križevac Mountain and Podbrdo in one chapter. These topics are so intertwined that separating them would hinder a full understanding of the message of the apparitions.
Podbrdo, where the first apparitions of Our Lady in Medjugorje took place, is one of the hills on the ridge of Mount Crnica, known as Gradina. Podbrdo is not the highest point of this ridge, hence its name, which translates as "underhill." At the foot of Crnica, on the Gradina side, stands a blue cross erected in 1985. It was here that Our Lady appeared to the visionaries, warning them of approaching policemen who intended to capture them. It is also a place of prayer, especially frequented by pilgrims who have difficulty reaching the hills of Podbrdo and Križevac.
The Podbrdo hill is related to Mount Gerizim, while the Šipovac hill (now Križevac) is related to Mount Ebal. Križevac is located on the opposite ridge of Mount Crnica, called Crna Greda (Kukavac). It is slightly higher than Podbrdo, and a white concrete cross stands on its summit. On the third day of the Apparitions, on the advice of the elder women, Vicka, one of the six seers, sprinkled the apparitional woman with holy water, saying the words: "If you are Mary, stay with us; if you are not, depart." This act was intended to protect them from Satan's deception. After this attempt, Mary simply smiled and remained in the same place, confirming everyone's belief that the Mother of God had indeed appeared to them. Then, to dispel any doubts, Mirjana asked the woman for the first time her name, to which she received the answer: "I am the Blessed Virgin Mary." The title "Blessed" holds special significance for us because the location of the Apparition alludes to Mount Gerizim, known as the Mount of Beatitudes. Through this title, Our Lady indicates which biblical events the Medjugorje Apparitions refer to, and therefore how we should understand and interpret them. One of the arguments advanced by those critical of the Medjugorje Apparitions is the lack of visible feet of Our Lady. When the visionaries describe Mary's appearance, they do not see her feet because they are covered by a long robe. Many people, misunderstanding the true message of the Medjugorje Apparitions, mistakenly compare them to other Apparitions, in which Our Lady often tramples the head of the serpent with her foot. However, because Mount Gerizim, the Mount of Beatitudes, alludes to Podbrdo in Medjugorje, trampling the serpent's head is not mentioned. In these Apparitions, Mary does not expel the serpent; she blesses the people.
Criticism of the Medjugorje apparitions also extends to the Rosary. In many other apparitions, Our Lady encourages its recitation, but in Medjugorje, this command is absent. The visionaries only recite basic prayers. This is another example of the misunderstanding that arises from comparing the Medjugorje apparitions with others. The Rosary is a weapon against Satan, just like Our Lady's heel. Since Mary blesses people, the Rosary is unnecessary. Furthermore, blessings are bestowed upon those who observe God's Law and have pure hearts from which nothing needs to be expelled.
We will return to this point in more detail later, as it forms the basis of the message of the Medjugorje apparitions. Many people pray the Rosary on Mount Podbrdo, which is their personal prayer, and no one can forbid them from doing so, as they do so for their own good. However, to maintain the consistency of the apparitions with Sacred Scripture, Mary's appearance and the course of the apparitions had to be presented in this way. All alleged "contradictions" stem from a lack of understanding, when God knows what He's doing. Let's compare the physical parameters of the peaks we're considering. Mount Gerizim rises about 500 meters above the ancient city of Shechem (modern Nabulus), reaching approximately 886 meters above sea level. Opposite it is Mount Ebal, slightly higher, reaching 938 meters above sea level. In the case of Medjugorje, the Podbrdo and Križevac peaks, which are related to these mountains, differ in height, but importantly, the division into the higher and lower peaks is maintained. Mount Ebal is higher than Mount Gerizim, and the same proportion applies to Križevac and Podbrdo.
Mounts Gerizim and Ebal are currently located in the Palestinian National Authority, which Jews call Samaria and Judea. Podbrdo and Križevac, on the other hand, are located in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In both cases, we are dealing with a two-part name for the region in which they are located. Furthermore, Samaria and Judea were part of the Promised Land in Canaan, as was Bosnia and Herzegovina, which at the time of the Apparitions was part of Yugoslavia. The area at the foot of Mount Gerizim was once inhabited by a large community of Samaritans, but today their number is negligible. In Medjugorje, at the foot of Mount Crnica and Podbrdo Hill, lies the village of Šurmanci, marked on a topographic map of Medjugorje and the surrounding area as point 5. It is worth noting that if we were to call the inhabitants of this village by its name, it would sound similar to "Samaritans." It is likely no coincidence that the village bears this name. Nothing that happens in Medjugorje is accidental—everything was planned by God in advance. As Mary says, referring to the construction of the cross on Mount Križevac, "The cross was in God's plan when you built it." Let us now turn to the Scriptures and recall the places where Mount Gerizim is mentioned. Before doing so, however, it is worth returning for a moment to the time of Abraham, the forefather of the children of Israel. When Abram encamped in the lands of Canaan, he experienced a revelation from God, who offered him service. This service required full obedience to God's Word and integrity, which was later defined on the stone tablets on Mount Sinai. When Abram agreed, God gave him a new name—Abraham—and made a Covenant with him. According to this Covenant, his offspring would become a great nation serving God. God promised Abraham that his offspring would inherit the lands of Canaan, where He had made a Covenant with him. Furthermore, God commanded circumcision for all males descended from Abraham, as well as for the strangers who sojourned in his camp. Circumcision was meant to symbolize the covenant and also had a connection to future events that are considered immoral today. We will discuss this shortly. However, circumcision made sense within the context of the covenant and was justified in that context.
When Adam broke God's commandment, God determined how his purification would occur—by laboring in thorns and by the sweat of his brow. Circumcision certainly involves pain and bloodshed. To return to God's bosom, a person must cleanse his entire body, including all its members. When Jesus hangs on the cross, his entire body bleeds, all of it circumcised. However, Jesus was the final bloody sacrifice.
Returning to God's covenant with Abraham, He promised that his offspring would become numerous. This increase required intercourse with many women. We know from the Bible that Abraham, in addition to his wife Sarah, also had concubines who bore him children. Circumcision justified Abraham and those who came after him from having sex with multiple women so that the Covenant could be fulfilled. However, it should be noted that circumcision only had its significance until God gave the Law, which was defined on Mount Sinai on the tablets of stone. From that point on, circumcision no longer had any significance, because God's Law cannot be mutually exclusive. Therefore, having multiple wives, or polygamy, became wrong in God's eyes.
The first thing Abraham did after God's Revelation was to circumcise all the males in his camp, which took place at a place called Gilgal. The word "Gilgal" can be translated as "unveiling," "parting," or "spreading," suggesting the place where the waters of the sky parted and God appeared to Abraham. "Gilgal" can also be translated as "circle" or "wheel," which explains the shape of the later Gilgal structures, which were stone circles. Gilgal was an altar on which sacrifices were offered to God and a place commemorating His Apparition.
In a similar way, the seers in Medjugorje describe the Apparition of Our Lady, who seems to emerge from heaven, as if the waters of the sky were parting. Interestingly, on Mount Podbrdo, the site of Our Lady's Apparitions, sharp stones lie around Her statue, forming a large circle. It is also worth noting that the circumcision of all males from Abraham's camp, as well as from Joshua's camp, was performed with sharp stones. Therefore, by climbing Mount Podbrdo barefoot, pilgrims can experience a kind of "circumcision" of their feet.
All these elements, both in the context of Sacred Scripture and the Apparitions in Medjugorje, reveal a deeper message that is in accordance with God's plan. Let us return for a moment to Abraham. Without going into detail, when a famine struck the land of Canaan, Abraham's descendants left the land and went to Egypt. Thanks to Joseph, Abraham's grandson, who served as Pharaoh's viceroy, their life in Egypt initially improved. Over time, however, with the change of government, their situation gradually worsened. When the time came for God's Covenant to be fulfilled, God called Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, which God had promised to Abraham and his descendants.
This entire story echoes the biblical Paradise, from which Adam and Eve were expelled for violating God's command. Abraham's descendants, having committed wickedness in the land of Canaan, lost God's providence and were forced to go to Egypt, where they were forced to perform hard labor. The theme of labor by the sweat of their brow, which appears in the biblical story of Adam, when he was called upon to cultivate a land rife with thorns and weeds, is reflected in the work of the children of Israel in Egypt. While treading on the bricks, they must endure thorns, and the high temperatures in Egypt make their work a true labor of labor by the sweat of their brows.
God calls Moses to lead them back to the land of Canaan, symbolizing Eden. The time of purification is drawing to a close, and the children of Israel return to the Promised Land, the land they left to enter Egypt. During their forty-year wandering in the desert, God gives them the Law and instructions to follow as they cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land. Observing God's commandments is meant to ensure a life of blessing, while disobeying them brings a curse upon them.
From the moment they cross the Jordan River, their service to God begins, which primarily involves driving out false gods from the land of Canaan. After settling in these lands, they were to live according to God's commandments, so that through God's blessing their lives would become an example for other nations. Other peoples, seeing their success, were to turn to God and His Law. When the children of Israel entered the land of Canaan, driving out all evil, it was enough for them to listen to God's Word, and God would fight for them. After settling, they were to simply live according to God's commandments, and God would bless them in all their endeavors. The apparitions in Medjugorje begin to overlap with events that occurred immediately after the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River. These events are key to understanding the message of the apparitions in Medjugorje. Before we move on to Medjugorje itself, however, we must first clarify the issue of comparing the books of the Old Testament with the Apparitions of Our Lady. God, using Holy Scripture, seeks to explain heavenly things to humanity through analogies to earthly matters.
Considering Medjugorje, we must view the events of the times of Moses and Joshua from a spiritual, not a material, perspective. Each of us has within us our own "land of Canaan," which we must conquer by driving out all evil and false gods. To retain possession of it, we must live according to the Word of God. Whoever achieves this goal will inherit the pearl—our soul. The human soul is part of Paradise, bound to it by an eternal Covenant.
To retain possession of the soul, we must fulfill certain criteria that God gives us through His Prophets. Among these Prophets are Moses and Joshua. Let us therefore turn to the Book of Joshua, which is crucial for us. After crossing the Jordan, as the children of Israel, led by Joshua, entered the land of Canaan, they were obligated to renew the covenant with God, forged at the foot of Mount Sinai and recorded in the Book of the Law of Moses. This covenant was read in Shechem, a city located between Mounts Gerizim and Ebal, in the presence of the entire Israelite community.
Observance of the covenant guaranteed the Israelites God's blessing, meaning a prosperous life in the land of Canaan, which they were to inherit. Breaking it, however, brought God's curse and failure in the newly acquired lands. The reading of the covenant was the task of the Levitical tribe, chosen from among all the tribes of Israel to serve God. The Levites were divided into two groups: some carried the Ark of the Covenant and served in the Temple, while the others were priests.
It is worth noting that the Levites were separated as priests after the Israelites betrayed God by building and worshiping a golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai. During the reading of the covenant, representatives of six of the twelve tribes of Israel were to stand on Mount Gerizim to bless, while the other half were to stand on Mount Ebal to curse. On Mount Gerizim stood representatives of the tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issacher, Joseph, and Benjamin, while on Mount Ebal stood representatives of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
Representatives of the six tribes were responsible for cursing if the children of Israel broke their covenant with God, and for blessing if they kept His commandments. Blessing is therefore an expression of God's grace for those who walk in His ways, while cursing is a punishment for those who break God's commandments. Comparing the apparitions of Our Lady in Medjugorje with what has been presented above, we receive answers to a number of questions that have remained unresolved until now. Let us begin by explaining why Mary chose six visionaries. Anyone with a basic understanding of the apparitions in Medjugorje knows that this number could have been somewhat different. However, since the Apparition took place on Mount Podbrdo, which corresponds to Mount Gerizim – the Mount of Beatitudes – the six seers allude to representatives of the six tribes of the children of Israel, whose role was to support those who walk in God's ways.
Furthermore, the ten secrets entrusted to the seers refer to the contents of the Book of the Law of Moses, which contains, among other things, curses that fall upon those who break the Covenant with God. In the context of Medjugorje, the role of representative of the tribe of Levites who carried the Ark of the Covenant is filled by the seer Mirjana Soldo. She received a mysterious scroll from the Mother of God, which refers precisely to the Book of the Law of Moses. This scroll is to be handed over to a Levite priest, in our case, the Franciscan Father Peter Ljubičić, who is to read the admonitions and curses contained within.
Mirjana Soldo chose Father Peter Ljubičić to read the scroll, but it's worth noting that the original assignment was to be Father Jozo Zovko, whose name sounds similar to Joshua, the figure who read the Book of the Law of Moses in Shechem. Father Jozo Zovko played a significant role in the initial phase of the Medjugorje Apparitions, as well as in the fight against communism, which then prevailed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He even became the subject of a film, which portrayed him as a steadfast fighter against the tyranny and evil of that period.
Despite his willpower, man is a weak being, susceptible to temptation. It's important to remember that he can become a weak link in God's plans. Every person possesses free will and can act against God's plan. In the case of Father Jozo Zovko, allegations of immoral behavior toward women likely prevented him from reading the scroll, despite his role as parish priest and parish leader in Medjugorje. Currently, Father Peter Ljubičić, a good choice, is expected to read the scroll.
It's worth remembering, however, that the Apparitions should not be judged solely by human weaknesses, which often become fodder for skeptics who strive to disprove the authenticity of the Apparitions at all costs. In the case of Medjugorje, as in every spiritual story, understanding God's plan is crucial, which may not always conform to human expectations or perceptions. Let us now examine the Book of Mosaic Law itself, particularly the admonitions and curses contained within it, and try to answer the question of what might be hidden in the scroll entrusted to Mirjana Soldo. In an interview for the program "Our Mother's Last Call" (Episode 16), she mentioned that the fulfillment of the mysteries is, to some extent, linked to the lack of children. The lack of offspring is therefore said to be a result of the realization of these mysteries.
Let us therefore examine the Book of Leviticus, which contains admonitions addressed to the children of Israel. According to these admonitions, observing the Covenant was to ensure a good life for them in the newly acquired land of Canaan, while breaking the Covenant brought upon them God's curses. The ten mysteries to be read in Medjugorje refer directly to Leviticus, chapter 26, and it is on this book that we will focus our attention. This chapter serves as the source of all subsequent reinterpretations of the blessings and curses found in other parts of the Old Testament. From numerous interviews with visionaries, we learn that the first two mysteries refer to the "admonition" addressed to the parish in Medjugorje. The third secret concerns a miracle that will occur in Medjugorje, while the remaining seven refer to the punishments and curses that will befall Medjugorje and the entire world. The entire secret is divided into three parts, just as Leviticus 26 is divided. For better understanding, some verses from Leviticus 26 will be accompanied by commentary relating to the events in Medjugorje.