At last you have got the Magazine!

Overjoyed after one of his concerts, the famous musician Johann Sebastian Bach said to his friends and colleagues: “Finally, you've got music!”

And upon reading the first issue of this magazine, which I must say is very tastefully presented - to all our dear friends of Međugorje, to the devotees of the Queen of Peace and all who love the miracle of Međugorje, it can be said; “you have finally got a magazine”.

They say one can tell the day by the morning. So too, by the first issue, we can tell the intentions, the aims of this new magazine which must be, beyond doubt, the richest and the most elegant one in the English language.

When asked to write - and in that way publicly express my thoughts and suggestions - I decided to oblige the Editorial Board. Why?

Because it concerns Međugorje. Međugorje put its stamp on my life within the Church, which pulsates vibrantly in that chosen place. Although we do not refer just to the place when we say Međugorje, moreover we think not of the location, but rather of the spiritual movement that erupted like a volcano in time and space, through people who are still with us today. Things change - but thanks to the grace of Our Lady of Međugorje – eye witnesses to God's project remain.

Some of my experiences have not yet been voiced and I would like to make them known. I feel that the time has come for them to be heard. So on these pages, as far as time and my health will permit, I wish to speak frankly about what our failings were with regard to the Communist regime.

I don't wish to polemicise, nor do I intend to humiliate or point to anyone, or to build a career on the account of the grace of the Lord. I simply want to give an account of how the enemy could come into the field and sow the weeds. I wish to shed light on this, since there are thousands and thousands of priests who deserve this. They risk their careers coming on pilgrimage, hearing confessions, living the messages.

I wish to support all those Bishops, Cardinals and Popes who clearly announced their stance towards Međugorje, and reflect a little on their true standing in the light of the grace of God. I wish to shed light on particular attitudes of those who find it their duty to say what Međugorje is, and think that only their judgement is the ultimate verdict on the immense graces being received by millions of those invited to the feast of prayer and peace- to the Eucharistic celebration of the Lamb of God.

In conclusion, I would say - it is necessary to write about Međugorje - and the words of St John come to me now:

…This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. (John 21: 24-25 NRSV)

So even if all the journalists, all the newspapers and the magazines of the world wrote about what the Blessed Virgin does for us daily, they would not be able to reveal it completely. We could not utter it in human words, nor present it through the visual means of photography. Our human words are “communication” and with Medjugorje we deal with much more. Our experiences are only human, just like our observations, and here we deal with much more. Therefore I write these lines with wonder and with deep respect for all and everyone, but most of all for those who suffered for the truth and for the plan of Our Lady. In the first place, these are the visionaries and the parishioners.

My dear readers, I see this magazine as a special gift for the great twenty-fifth anniversary of Our Lady's apparitions. And if this magazine would happen to have any other aims besides transferring her messages - and the testimonies of the thousands of souls that her measureless motherly love has touched and continues to touch - these words of introduction would be the beginning and the end of our co-operation.

With you in prayer.

Fr Jozo Zovko