Oh God, where to begin?? After several days of feeling like nothing is happening, we've had a very busy day and a half since I last wrote.
Yesterday afternoon, we met our guide to hear Mirjana's talk, which was in Italian. We were there an hour early, but the Italians were already pushing and crowding, like they do, around the doors of the yellow hall where the talk was to be. Our guide is fluent in Croatian, English, and Italian, so she said she would translate for us outside while listening to the Italian radio broadcast of the talk. But just as the talk was beginning, it started to POUR down rain. We hustled into a large green tent to get out of the rain; though many of us had umbrellas and ponchos, they were no match for the torrential downpour. The tent was obviously not meant for anyone but workmen; there were dismantled benches, doors with broken glass in them, wood shavings, piles of wood that had been cleared from paths, and other such mildly dangerous things. We picked our way through the refuse to the back of the tent, which, by the way, was made of a metal frame with water-resistant material draped over it. It was about as big as the yellow hall right next to it, and apparently before the hall was built they used to have talks and Mass and things in there, in the middle of the fields. But I digress.
We hoped that the rain would let up soon, since rain that intense usually comes and goes pretty quickly, but instead it got worse. Counting between lightning flashes and thunder crashes, it was getting closer and closer until we could hear the snapping sound as the lightning hit the metal frame of the tent and the deafening crash of thunder that was RIGHT THERE. There was no counting going on anymore, because thunder and lighting were coming at the same time. It was mildly terrifying, but also pretty exciting. Now I can check near-death-lightning-storm-experience off my life's to-do list.
We wasted no time in whipping out our rosaries to pray the Divine Mercy chaplet, and as we rounded the second decade to begin the third, our guide came to get us. (She had been out in the rain looking for a member of the group who had been seperated from us.) She led us the five or six steps from the tent to the hall, and in those few steps I got completely soaked. The main hall was, of course, completely packed, but there was a back room where they were broadcasting the talk on speakers, and our guide translated as best she could. I wish I could say I remember something profound that she said so I could tell you, but alas I cannot. I was so distracted by the excitement of the storm. By the time the talk finished the rain had let up, praise God, though it continued to drizzle throughout the evening. Then we had dinner and I went to bed!
This morning Mirjana had her monthly apparition at 9am at the Blue Cross which, I have since learned, is a large blue cross at the base of Apparition Hill, where the original three apparitions were, the same hill we climbed a few days ago. Our guide had told us that prayers at the Blue Cross started at 5am, and if we wanted to get a good spot there we'd have to get there at 4am at the very latest. None of us were really up for that, so instead we left our hotel at 8am and climbed Apparition Hill, then snuck through a path in the brush to a spot on the mountain above the Blue Cross. We couldn't actually see the cross or Mirjana, but we could hear what was going on over the loudspeaker. Plus, that side of the hill overlooks the village, and it was so beautiful and peaceful in the morning sunlight, away from the crowds and the pushing (those Italians!!). There was singing and rosary-praying leading up to the apparition, then silence while Our Lady spoke to Mirjana, and then the crowd started up with ˝Ave Maria˝ again so we knew it was over. We climbed back down the mountain and walked back to our hotel. I should probably add that we got gloriously muddy on our climb, cuz everything was still wet and slippery from the tempest yesterday. I wore a little dress up the mountain, which kept getting caught in thorn bushes as I climbed. I felt like Snow White, running through the big scary forest with things grabbing at her. Except I was laughing, not crying. Somehow, despite all of this, I only got mud on my feet and ankles, nothing above the calves, so my dress remained spotless. My feet... were another story. Lol. But I loved it. I actually took a picture of my muddy feet when we got back down the mountain. Maybe I'll post it on twitpics sometime.
At noon Father was the main celebrant at the English-speaking Mass, and he specifically requested that I sing at the Offertory and after Communion!! I was so honored, especially because today is the Feast of the Ascension! So, in a church packed to standing-room only, I sang Franck's ˝Panis Angelicus˝ during the preparation of the altar and Bach's ˝Ave Maria˝ after the communion hymn. Afterward there were hordes of people who wanted to tell me how I had ˝touched their hearts,˝ even in the restaurant where I went out to lunch with a few of my group after Mass, and the talk Father and I went to after lunch! I was giving hugs and squeezing people's hands all day. This must be what stardom feels like!! Except maybe with less hugging? lol
But as I said, after lunch Father and I went to hear a talk at Cenacolo, which is a community of men who are recovered drug addicts. They gave beautiful testimonies, of course, and great examples of discipline and humility. Then Father and I walked back to the hotel for dinner, and he popped right back out again to attend Ivan's apparition this evening. He gets to be in the room with Ivan during the apparition because he is a priest! So lovely. He brought some of our religious articles to be blessed by Our Lady herself!!! Let me tell you, we are hitting the jackpot with blessings lately. The priests here bless all the religious articles in the church after every Mass, and on Sunday we will have the opportunity to have things blessed by our Holy Father the Pope himself at his Mass in Zagreb!
So, that's all I have to say. Phew!! As I said before, we have been quite busy! I must get to bed and get some sleep, for tomorrow morning we start the climb up Mount Krisevac at 6am! We are meeting a group of Irish pilgrims. :D
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