Away from the noise of the world, many welcomed the new year 2025 by coming to pray in Medjugorje. The prayer program in the Church of St. James began with the Rosary at 5 p.m., a thanksgiving Holy Mass was celebrated at 6 p.m., and after that, a live nativity scene was staged once again in front of the church. The prayer vigil began with the adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament at 10 p.m., and the peak was the Holy Mass, which was concelebrated with numerous bishops and priests, in the presence of several thousand pilgrims, and was presided over by the parish priest of Medjugorje, Br. Zvonimir Pavičić.
Some of the countries from which pilgrims arrived in Medjugorje to contemplate once again, as Br. Zvonimir said, the mystery of the incarnation in the silent night of Bethlehem included: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Poland, Italy, Germany, Austria, Ukraine, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, France, Spain, the USA, China, Korea and Singapore…
Br. Zvonimir Pavicic said at the beginning of his homily that with today’s feast we end the Christmas octave and that the Church does not celebrate the New Year in the way the world celebrates it.
”For us, we have Mary, the Mother of God at the beginning of the year, the feast that closes the narrower circle of the celebration of the birth of Christ. These eight days we have celebrated the birth of our Lord in the flesh of the Virgin Mary, and today we are called to reflect on Mary’s motherhood,” said Br. Zvonimir, explaining what it means that Mary is the Mother of God?
”She conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. She did not conceive by human power, by human seed, but was overshadowed by the Power from above, from heaven. “Therefore the child to be born will be holy – the Son of God.” This is how the angel Gabriel explained it to her when she herself stood before this mystery. Mary did not understand everything immediately, but she believed in the word of God. She believed completely and so she became the one who leads in faith. The Church Fathers say that Mary gave birth to God first in her heart, believing the angel’s words, and then she conceived and gave birth to Him in the flesh. Thus she was first a disciple of God, and then the Mother of God,” said Br. Zvonimir, and he placed before us Mary the Mother of God as a guide to faith, because: “She shows us by her example that we should always trust the Lord, no matter if sometimes His path seem difficult and impossible to us.”
He said that in today’s Gospel passage we hear again about the events in Bethlehem when the shepherds found the newborn baby, Mary and Joseph. Mary reflected on all these events, as the evangelist Luke says: “Mary kept all these events in herself and pondered them in her heart.”
”Mary is no ordinary woman. She is a model for all women. She is blessed among women. Mary is no ordinary disciple. She is a model for all Christ’s disciples. As a model, she encourages us to store these events of salvation in our hearts and to ponder them, for faith is born in the heart and faith requires reflection – that pondering in the heart – so that the heart may completely submit to the will of God and accept it in everything,” said Br. Zvonimir, explaining what that pondering in the heart means and how we can imitate the Blessed Virgin Mary in this today.
“Mary gave birth to Christ – the Word became flesh. We have this Word written in the Gospels. It is therefore necessary to take the Holy Scriptures in our hands, especially the Gospels, read them, reflect on them, and sift through these words and events in our hearts. In this way, we too will be able to observe the newborn Jesus in the manger in our hearts, with the eyes of faith, and follow his growth, preaching, and work of redemption. Mary is a very quiet person in the Gospels, we barely have a few sentences of her, but she is a person who prays, contemplates, and accepts God’s will in silence,” said the parish priest of Medjugorje, Br. Zvonimir Pavičić, who concluded his homily with an invitation that “our New Year’s resolutions should be: the Rosary, fasting, the Holy Bible, confession, and the Holy Eucharist.”
