Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Yesterday (Sunday) I rose early in the morning and took a bus from Mostar to the village of Medjugorje, where the Virgin Mary has been appearing every day since June 24, 1981. She appears at 5:40 p.m. Daylight Savings Time and 6:40 p.m. Standard Time, thus ending the centuries old debate as to whether or not Heaven's clocks spring forward and fall back. Originally the Holy Virgin appeared to six children, all of whom are now grown and continue to receive visions at least once a year. Three of the original six still receive daily visions, and one receives a monthly message for the entire world. This is good stuff.

It was cloudy and cold yesterday, as it has been for the past week, and by the time I arrived in Medjugorje, it was raining cats and dogs (that's a figure of speech, not to be taken literally). After a tasty cheese and tomato omelette, eaten in the company of a dozen Irish pilgrims enjoying an early morning Irish coffee, I went to St. James' Church, the religious headquarters of the town. When I arrived, a Croatian mass was being performed, so I walked to the nearby statue of the Risen Christ that oozes salvific pus from its knee (not as appealing as salvific milk, but you take what you can get). The cats and dogs falling from the sky (a reference to that figure of speech mentioned earlier, and not to be taken literally) made it difficult to discern the pus on the Savior's knee or the tears on the pilgrims' faces. But there we were, the faithful and the damned (me), all huddled together, diligently rubbing His knee.

After that little exercise, I returned to St. James' Church for an English language mass. There were at least a dozen priests at the altar, native speakers of a dozen different languages. The English mass was introduced by a Franciscan friar who told the crowd not to give money to beggars. I'm not sure if he was referencing Christ or St. Francis when he gave that commandment. I've obviously been reading bad translations of both. He went on to explain that St. James' Church would like to have a world-class choir with top-knotch singers from around the globe, and he encouraged the faithful to donate generously to this noble cause. By my understanding, my great-grandfather decided to leave the old country after hearing similar sermons. I too decided to leave, giving all my change to the first beggar I saw.

I proceeded on foot to the nearby village of Podbrdo on the side of Crnica hill (a.k.a. Apparition Hill), to the site where the Virgin Mary first appeared to the six children in 1981. By the time I reached the rocky trailhead, the rain was coming down in sheets, and the hillside had turned into a muddy river. Several groups of pilgrims were turning back, unable to make it up to the site of the apparition. I felt really bad for these people. There were dozens of elderly people from foreign countries who had traveled for days just to see this site, many of them supported by canes or crutches, all of them dressed in their Sunday best, including high heels and skirts on the women. Going up the mountain was an impossibility for most of them. I, on the other hand, am like a Green Beret: fearless, driven, and perhaps a little dim-witted. I headed up the mountain, ankle-deep in muddy water, past the 14 Stations of the Cross (I know them well!) and to the statue of the Virgin Mary that marks the spot where she first appeared 25 years ago. There were at least a dozen other people there, many of them kneeling in the mud saying the rosary. When lightening struck nearby with a sharp clap of thunder, most of us decided it was time to head back down the mountain.

I caught the next bus back to Mostar, chilled to the bone, my clothes drenched, my guidebook and camera floating in the bottom of my backpack. It rocked!

This morning I caught the train back to Sarajevo (a much more pleasant ride when your head isn't pounding from the previous night's drinking binge). It continues to rain in town, while the surrounding mountains are covered with a fresh blanket of snow.

(Photo by Eric: Pus veneration, Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina)