“My name is Aidan, and I come from the north of Ireland, but I live in England. I came to Medjugorje for my first trip back in February 1991 – totally unplanned. I had a free ticket with a parish in England, and I came here not knowing anything about Medjugorje. I took some advice and I was told to expect good weather and expect to be spiritually renewed. So I came with my summer clothes, with a cardigan, and I didn’t get the weather I was expecting at all! It was winter weather and very wet.
“But what happened there, to make a long story short... there was a person there that I thought I knew – an acquaintance that I hadn’t seen in nine years. She was the sister-in-law of a fellow I went to college with back in Dublin. And this person, I thought I knew her. But from the waist down, no, it wasn’t her, because the woman I knew had a short leg.
Aidan
“Yes, please tell me!”
“She went on to explain that on Tuesday evening during the apparition (which at that time was taking place on the left tower of the church), she happened to be standing at the door to the tower; and her left leg, from her knee through her thigh, began to burn. And the burning sensation continued right up until the Consecration at the Mass, which could have been an hour. And after the burning sensation ceased, her legs were the same length!!!"
“She told me this story, but she said that it wasn’t the whole story. She said that was only the physical miracle! I do believe that Medjugorje is a place where miracles happen. And some are confirmed by physical miracles. The actual miracle in her situation was a healing of the memory, the healing of a guilt that she carried for some 30 years. Back then, she was going to a disco in Dublin with her sister – she was about 15 or 16 – and a drunk driver ran into them.
The sister was killed outright, and as a result of the accident, the growth in her leg was stunted. So not only did she get the healing of the memory and of the guilt, but she also got the growth back to her leg! And she said she was going home after the healing, the miracle, to tell her mother the truth.
She carried this for 30 years, this guilt. So Medjugorje is about peace! She received peace 30 years after a tragic event in her life.
“I personally received peace here. I had been to Confession, but I couldn’t forgive myself. And it was one evening, and I was at Mass outside, and a weight just lifted off my shoulders. And I can’t explain what the guilt was about, but it was just a pure weight that was lifted off my shoulders. In Medjugorje, Our Lady comes as the Queen of Peace, and any pilgrim who comes to Medjugorje, comes at Her own personal invitation.
Those are Her own words. I heard them myself one night at an apparition on the mountain. Coming here is a response to Her personal invitation. And what She wants to give every pilgrim here is peace.
“We think actually of the Christmas message which was very different (Christmas 2013) because Our Lady didn’t give a message. It was Jesus, the Infant King of Peace, who said, “I am your peace. Live My commandments.” So peace can only come from Our Lord.
“And to think that Our Lady’s first message to the people here was “Peace, peace, peace, and only peace. Peace between God and man, and peace between men.” So Medjugorje is peace. No matter where you are, peace pervades this place – peace in your hearts and in your families.
“So please, take it from me! I am an example of responding to the invitation, and now I have that peace. And I hope that anybody who comes here can have that same peace. It is the peace, which Jesus says, our world cannot understand.”
Featured article from March's Spirit of Medjugorje
The Testimony of Aidan O’Kane By Cathy Nolan
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