Dear Parish Family,
 
About one year ago, Fr. Tim, my mother, and I were getting ready for our much-anticipated pilgrimage to Germany and Medjugorje. Due to circumstances surrounding complications with Covid and travel restrictions, which I know all of us are too familiar with, our trip ended up being cancelled. We knew we weren’t going to be able to go to Oberammergau for another eight years, as the 400-year-old Passion Play only occurs every decade (it was originally set to take place in 2020, so the next is 2030), but we were determined to make up for our trip to the latter. And so, a little over a week ago, the three of us and some friends set out to former Yugoslavia, in eastern Europe, to a small village in Bosnia-Herzegovina called Medjugorje, where the Mother of God had appeared to six children in 1981. By now, I think the word “Medjugorje” (pronounced meh-joo-gor-ye) has become a Catholic household staple, much like the term Fatima or Lourdes, though perhaps not as universally understood or accepted. A big reason for this is because the purported events that occurred 42 years ago has been occurring, and still is occurring to this day.
 
The Church has not made a final ruling on the supernatural status of the events. Rome’s investigation into the supernatural cause of the alleged apparitions is ongoing because the events have not ceased. One of the categories of interest in the investigation by Rome is the Church’s experience of the “fruits” of the alleged apparitions. We get this from one of Jesus’ more well-known sayings, “By their fruits, you shall know them.”
Not many people know this, but Medjugorje is very special and dear to my heart. Nevertheless, were the Church to say, “there are no supernatural causes to the phenomena,” I would humbly submit, and it wouldn’t break the faith I have in my God, the Church, or even in the Blessed Mother. My faith does not depend on Medjugorje. But, I would be lying if I said that the road that led me to the priesthood did not depend on the events taking place there. My being a priest today is a direct result, a fruit, of Medjugorje.
 
I know people who have made this pilgrimage over a dozen times, some over twenty or thirty times. I myself have now visited Medjugorje four times (twice in my teens and twice as a priest). To me it’s like Narnia. It’s magical. I know people who report miracles and some of them are so incredible it can put tears in your eyes. Outside of my first trip, I really haven’t been met with miraculous experiences – spinning suns, visions of the Mother of God, or any other such wonders. But I don’t go there for those things. I don’t think I need them, at least not like I used to. The greatest miracle is being there at the altar holding Jesus in my hands as a priest. The simplicity of the pilgrimage opens my heart to the joys of meeting new people, of seeing lives radically change before my eyes, hearts finding peace and reconciliation where there once was none, of traveling with my best friend and seeing the joy in my mother’s face, and walking around a village where thousands upon thousands of people from almost every nation I can name singing their Marian hymns, going to Mass, kneeling in adoration, going to confession, talking about Jesus, and just trying to make good with their lives. These are such wonders to me. I go to Medjugorje like a child comes home to a lit porch when the streetlights go on, dinner is ready, and mom is anticipating my return. It’s a warmth that lights up a fire in the heart of a child.
 
Both Fr. Tim and I carried you all in our hearts as we climbed the rocky terrain of the two mountains, which pilgrims hike as part of the pilgrimage. I prayed for your special intentions, enclosed them all in Our Lady’s Heart and entrusted them to our dear Savior at every Mass. I handed the petitions that many of you wrote over to the visionary Ivan, and he presented them himself to our Lady during prayer. I remembered Fr. Mike especially at the altar and at the top of the mountains. He was often on my mind, and so were all of you. Finally, I asked our Lady to grant us special graces in our churches, over all of you, deacons, staff, volunteers, and parishioners. I prayed for my former parish of St. Theresa and enfolded them and all of you in the tender care of our Mother in Heaven. It was difficult leaving Medjugorje, but it always is for me. Still, I’m happy to be home and to bring whatever grace God gave me to anyone willing enough to talk. God’s many blessings to you!
 
Love, 
     Fr. Matt