Tribute to Mother Mary Of Medjugorje (Part 1)

Hello my name is Juliet I am from Kampala Uganda, (Africa). I went on pilgrimage to Medjugorje this year. It was my first pilgrimage outside my county. I had heard about Medjugorje from a local radio station called Radio Maria. On this station, they used to broadcast all the monthly messages our Mother Mary would send out to the world. One day, they announced that Radio Maria was organizing a pilgrimage to Medjugorje and that the cost of the pilgrimage would be 1950 U$ dollars (inclusive of Air travel, accommodation, meals and transport inland.)

I felt a strong urge to visit this place of wonders, as the radio always put it so that I can have an encounter with my heavenly Mother who I have always cherished since childhood, and had a conviction that she was a solution to the many problems I was facing at the time. I really believed that if I got the opportunity to be present during Her apparitions, I would get a chance to communicate to her personally, I thought to myself that maybe my country was a little too far away for her to listen to my prayers.

However I did not have the money for I am a civil servant earning an equivalent of 274 U$ dollars per month.

For a certain time, I gave up the quest to make this pilgrimage but as the days drew nearer, the urge became stronger and stronger that ignoring it was next to impossible. One day while in my office, I shared my feeling will a colleague. She advised me to listen to my inner voice and do what it was telling me to do. It was clear that she wanted me to go because that’s what my conscience was telling me to do. She added that the priest at Radio Maria had said that no one goes to Medjugorje without Mother Mary calling him or her. This gave me hope of attaining my long held desire of meeting Mother Mary personally. At once I called the bank and asked for a loan. It took me approximately one week to get it and I immediately paid for the pilgrimage.

However before departure a number of hurdles occurred which to some extent made me think that maybe it was not God’s plan for me to make this pilgrimage. First and foremost, it was quite hard asking for leave from my place of work at such short notice. Secondly, developed countries are very skeptical giving visas to persons in my age bracket from the developing countries on an assumption that we normally choose to remain in their countries and work there illegally. This was a very big obstacle to my travel. Each time the embassy submitted persons with queries on their visa applications my name was always among them. At a certain time, they asked us to present bank statements as a sign to show that we are well off and will not stay in their country. This was rather very hard for me, even if I had not picked a loan as I had done, and I had kept my monthly salary for the last two years, I could not add up to what the embassy would want anyway. But remember where there is a will there is a way, Mother Mary provided me with a solution and at the third round, I was granted a visa.

The next obstacle was rather tempting but not very hard. Five days before departure, I received a letter from the Public service commission, inviting me to attend job promotional interviews on the 25th July 2005. The time I would be on my way to Medjugorje. The organizing committee could not change the itenary for everybody because of me. The only options left were to either cancel the trip or miss the interviews. I know this may sound funny to some who will read this especially those who think that a job promotion would help me get a pay rise and thus make a strain free pilgrimage; to know that I chose to forego the promotional interview and make the pilgrimage. I understand such a feeling because even at my work place some of my colleagues would not understand the reasons for my choice. Any way what kept me strong was the fact that I had this urge to see Mother Mary personally and tell her about the many problems I was facing in life. Don’t ask me where the urge came from; all I know is that I had a feeling that I will find answers in Medjugorje.