The following is an edited transcript of a talk Jakov gave to Pilgrims visiting his home in Medjugorje on October 3, 1998. In the interest of keeping the flavor and the intent intact, there has been no editing of the vocabulary or syntax used as Jakov's comments were translated into English as he spoke.
Good morning. We are going to start our meeting with us praying together.
My first apparition was on June 24, 1981, and before that day I have never have thought of any apparition. I had never heard about the possibility that the Blessed Mother could appear on earth. I had never heard about Lourdes or Fatima. I was 10 years old. There were many other things that were important to me. The first time when I saw Our Lady when she was on the hill, on Apparition Hill, and I was on the bottom of the hill.. she invited us with her hand to come closer to her. And besides the great fear I had at that time, I had a great joy as well. And I had a great desire to approach the Blessed Mother to come close to her. But, the most beautiful experience for me was when I saw the Blessed Mother when I up against her and I could see her better. And in this moment of the apparition, I didn't have any words. I just had a joy, a great peace and a desire that it happen again for me. And this is how our every day apparitions started. We used to go to the Apparition Hill at the same time and we had the apparition over there.
In the beginning of her apparition, Our Lady invited us to live her many messages. She invited us for peace because she introduced herself as the Queen of Peace. She said in one of her messages of Marija Pavlovic: "Peace has to be between man and God and we have to pray for peace." Many of us couldn't understand her messages in the beginning. Why did Blessed Mother emphasize so many times to pray for peace? But some people understood it 10 years later, 10 years after her first apparitions started. 10 years after the first apparition is when the war started in Croatia, so it was the time when many people realized why the Blessed Mother kept repeating the message of peace.
And she said also with prayer and fasting we could even stop the wars. She invited us to pray the rosary. She said there is nothing stronger that can unite the family than family prayer. Our Lady requested from us to pray all three parts of the rosary every day. But, when she says to pray, she means to pray with the heart. So our prayers shouldn't be just the prayer coming from our lips but the prayer that comes out of love and the prayer that comes out of peace. To pray good and with the heart means to be open to Blessed Mother. She repeated many, many times in her messages: "It is just enough that you open your hearts to me and I will take care of the rest."
She invited us to fast Wednesdays and Fridays on bread and water. But again, if we do fasting, it should be out of love for our Lord. I think that everyone of us could fast except that those of us that are really sick. We could remember when fasting how much Jesus did for us. He suffered for us. How much Blessed Mother does for us. And how great is the love of Blessed Mother. She's here for 17 years.
And there's another great thing. At the end of every message which is the monthly message on the 25th of each month, Our Lady says: "Thank you for having responded to my call." It is a great honor for the Blessed Mother to say thanks to us. But we are the one who should say to Blessed Mother thanks. Having really remembered, we should always have it in our mind. Our fasting should be just a little thing we do for our Blessed Mother. And when we fast and when we pray, we pray for ourselves. Our Lady says: "I'm here to help you for your salvation."
And she wants all of us to give us to her son Jesus. She invited us to a conversion as well, but conversion of our own heart in the first place. because she says: "Without conversion of your own heart, you can not come closer to God." And if there is no God we can not accept the messages that Our Lady gave us. And all things that Our Lady is doing for us, we have to understand it is just because of us and for our future. Her love for us is great and she has proved it many many times here in Medjugorje. In her message she said: "If you would know how much I loved you, you would cry out of joy."
We have to accept the messages Our Lady gave us and be open to her. Only in this way, will our lives be completed and we won't find a difficult peace in our lives. But, if we have God and Our Lady in our heart, it wont be so difficult because God is always with us. But, we have just to invite him. He is always ready to listen to us and we have to be open to him.
I had every day apparitions until September 12th of this year (1998). On the apparition which I had on the 11th of September, Our Lady told me to be prepared for the next day apparition because tomorrow she was going to give me the tenth secret. So, I shouldn't tell you how I felt. I was with the Blessed Mother every day for 17 years. I could say that I grew up together with her. But, of course, it is the plan of God. During my last apparition, Our Lady gave me the 10th secret and Our Lady gave me also a message and she asked me to continue to work in the mission that she gave me.. and it is the mission of spreading her messages to the others. But in the message that was given to me, Blessed Mother didn't invite me only, she invited all of us. Because the messages was not given just to me, the messages were given to the whole world. Specially I would say for all pilgrims that would come to Medjugorje.. all pilgrims should take something from Medjugorje and the most beautiful thing to bring are the messages of Our Lady. All of us should become missionaries of Our Lady and how to be the missionary is if we live and accept the messages of Our Lady.
Now you are here in Medjugorje.. don't expect any miracles, don't look for any miracles here. The greatest miracle that God could give us here in Medjugorje is our conversion, our dedication of our life to God.
When Our Lady showed us Purgatory, we have seen a big darkness and we felt there was some movement in darkness and Our Lady said we should pray a lot for all those that are there, they need our prayers very much. I think we may love. Many of us say: "My father or my mother or some of my relatives must be in heaven." How could we know that? God is the only one who knows where they are. We have to pray for all those. Many, many people make a mistake not to pray for the souls in Purgatory so there is a great need to pray for the souls in Purgatory. Marija the visionary has a special mission and it is for prayer for those souls in Purgatory. If Our Lady gave this mission to Marija Pavlovic to pray for every day, it means it is very important, so all of us should support her with our prayers for the souls in Purgatory.
Question from the Pilgrims asking what Heaven, Purgatory and Hell is like.
This is the question I always have to answer every time.. by every group of pilgrims. It happened in the beginning of the apparitions, we were in the house across the street over there. It was not the time of the apparitions regular time. My mom, Vicka and I were in the house over there. And at a moment, the two of us see Our Lady in front of us. And she told us: Now I'm going to take you with me. I want to show you Heaven, "Our Lady.. why don't you take just Vicka? But, Our Lady said not to be concerned about it, not to worry, she was with us. She took us in her hands and it was probably only 2 seconds. In one moment we were in Heaven. It is a huge space.. a most beautiful space. There were some colors, hard to describe. A special kind of light. We have seen a lot of people they were all dressed in long dresses. And they were singing, praying, talking between each other. We couldn't say there was any difference in age. Vicka had even noticed there wasn't a thick one or a tiny one Imagine just to repeat to your child the same thing for 17 years and he doesn't obey.. he doesn't do it. But Blessed Mother is still with us.. she wants our salvation from all of us and this is how she proves her love for all of us. So, I would like to repeat once again the message when she says: "If you would know how much I love you, you would cry out of joy." I think this is the greatest confirmation of her love.