Medjugorje priest praises shrine

The Mother of God is appearing in Medjugorje to bring Jesus Christ to us, one of the leading priests in the unofficial shrine said in a tour to the UK last week. Father Ljubo Kurtovic, OFM, who is based in the Bosnian village, said the Blessed Mother once told the six young people in their daily visions that they should always prefer receiving Jesus in Holy Communion at Mass than any apparition of her. "That is because Holy Mass is the source, the peak of our life," Fr Kurtovic told people at St Oswald's Church, Liverpool. Fr Kurtovic, who was 12 when the reported apparitions began in 1981, spoke at Walsingham, Birmingham and London on his recent visit. He told congregations that he owed his own vocation to Medjugorje - his first pilgrimage was in 1982. "I first got to know Medjugorje as a pilgrim and then as a priest from the inside of the confessional,"! he said in a reference to the many pilgrims who spend hours receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation - one of Our Lady's reported five request in Medjugorje. The others are daily Mass, daily Rosary, fasting on Bread and Water on Wednesdays and Fridays and regular reading and living the Scripture. He said many people experienced radical conversions in their lives at Medjugorje but added that all of us are called to daily and ongoing conversion. "Medjugorje today, is not some kind of Christian sect," said Fr Kurtovic, "It is the Church in motion." He said no final verdict had been delivered on the phenomenon by the Church, adding, "The Church is very well aware of the fruits of Medjugorje."