A few days ago, I returned from the international book exposition in New York, after promoting my new Spiritual thriller as well as the other books that Vero House has published. Within 24 hours, however, I was committing to a bigger trip. A strange set of circumstances converged to put me on the path to Medjugorje, perhaps the world's most controversial site for alleged miracles.
Unwinding from my New York trip, I felt moved to check out one particular group trip to Medjugorje, even though I knew that my circumstances made my participation extremely unlikely. I prayed that God would lead the way if He wanted me to go. Then, within hours of when I first considered the trip seriously, every barrier had fallen and I found myself overnighting my payment, at the very last minute.
Medjugorje is a tiny town in Bosnia-Herzegovina (the former Yugoslavia, near the Adriatic Sea) in which countless miracles have been claimed since 1981. The details are far too numerous for this blog but, for those who want to learn more, a great book on the subject is by the former "Rolling Stone" reporter, Randall Sullivan. "The Miracle Detective" is a wonderful read for the Spiritually curious of any faith, but especially for Catholics. (I should warn, however, that two consecutive bishops of that diocese have refused to accept the supernatural nature of the events, even though vast numbers of clergy, including Pope John Paul II, have highly praised them.)
Anyway, three decades ago, six children started claiming that they were seeing apparitions of the Virgin Mary. At first the communist leaders of Yugoslavia tried to bully and threaten the children and their families into changing their story. That didn't work.
