Those who believe in apparitions are often intrigued by so-called “secrets,” particularly in well-known places like of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Hercegovina, which has been authenticated by a Vatican commission. Recently, in a talk on June 24, 2011, during anniversary celebration in the village, seer Ivan Dragicevic gave some interesting comments.
“Many people ask me if Our Lady has ever talked about the second coming of Jesus?” he said. “No. Has Our Lady talked about the end of the world? No. Our Lady hasn’t come because of that. So many ask, what does Our Lady say? What do you talk, with her every day? We talk a lot. And believe me, if we had 24 hours, we would miss some minutes. But one day when the time comes, when some thi
ngs get revealed, you will understand why the apparitions are such a long time and why every day. Later on, we will understand some things. Later on, our eyes will be opened. When we see physical changes that are going to happen in the world. This is so important to understand. I’m not going to tell you the secrets! (laugh). The time in front of us is the time of great responsibility.”
In 1985, another seer, Mirjana Dragicevic Soldo, gave some rare, revealing, and far more sobering indications of what is in the secret prophecies she maintains the Blessed Mother gave her before daily apparitions halted in 1982 (after she was granted her tenth such alleged prophecy). The seer, who has been called to testify before the Vatican commission investigating the events, explained, in a private interview with her spiritual director, Father Petar Ljubicic, that there would be events in the first two secrets she was given that would come as warnings, and then a “sign” that would serve “as additional confirmation.”
In recent years, Mirjana has stayed almost completely away from discussing her secrets, as do the other visionaries. In fact, she has stated that a supernatural “block” about them has allowed her to go about life without thinking or even readily recalling most of them. She brushes aside questions about them.
But back in 1985 — when the alleged revelations were fresh — she said about the first secret, “To the people of this world who pray it will be a gift.” Other parts of the interview were even more revealing:
Father Ljubicic: How would you assess the current situation around the world? How would you personally view all these things?
Mirjana: There never was an age such as this one, never before was God honored and respected less than now, never before have so few prayed to Him; everything seems to be more important than God. This is the reason why she cries so much. The number of unbelievers is becoming greater and greater. As they endeavor for a better life, to such people, God Himself is superfluous and dispensable. This is why I feel deeply sorry for them and for the world. They have no idea what awaits them. If they could only take a tiny peek at these secrets, they would convert in time. Certainly, God always forgives all those who genuinely convert.
Father Ljubicic: Did she perhaps alert us to other things we must do, in addition to praying and preparing for that time? Perhaps something concrete?
Mirjana: Yes, she told me it is necessary to pray a great deal until the first secret is revealed. But in addition to that, it is necessary to make sacrifices as much as possible, to help others as much as it is within our abilities, to fast – especially now, before the first secret. She stated that we are obliged to prepare ourselves.
Father Ljubicic: Tell me, how do you view the situation around you? How do you view the young people around you? I am referring to your peers, the ones you live and interact with?
Mirjana [then in her teens and studying in Sarajevo]: Father, I wish you only knew how I feel on some days! There are times when I feel that I could go mad. If Mary wasn’t here, if she didn’t fill me with strength, by now I would have surely gone mad… When I see how people believe, especially in Sarajevo, how they use God and His Name in their swearing, how thoughtless they are, how they curse God… These wretched ones have no idea what awaits them in the near future. It is then, as I observe them, that I take pity on them. I feel so sorry for them and pray and cry and pray, pray so much for them. I pray to Mary to enlighten their minds because, as Jesus said: they truly do not know what they do… And yet the first two secrets are not all that severe and harsh. What I mean is, yes, they are severe, but not as much as the remaining ones.
Father Ljubicic: Are [the secrets] perhaps of a notable, distinct character, or more of a spiritual nature?
Mirjana: Distinct, distinct.
Father Ljubicic: Distinct?
Mirjana: Yes, distinct. It will be visible. It is necessary in order to shake up the world a little. It will make the world pause and think.
Father Ljubicic: Something like a catastrophe?
Mirjana: No, it will not be anything as huge as that. That will come later. It will be something that will give the world something to think about seriously, allow it to see that she was indeed here, and to see and realize that there is God, that He exists.
Father Ljubicic: After that, will there be anyone who will say, ‘This is some sort of a natural phenomenon’ or along those lines?
Mirjana: Perhaps some staunch unbelievers might say something like that after the first and second secrets.
Father Ljubicic: I am just curious whether anyone will be able to say, ‘I feel something, that something will happen soon’ or along those lines.
Mirjana: Well, you can see there are some rather peculiar things going on in the world. People are unhappy, dissatisfied, avarice reigns every where, hardly anyone admits that they ever have enough of anything. Yet, none of this gives any clues about the secret. This secret stands on its own. The secret will abundantly speak for itself and requires no prior clues or signals.
Father Ljubicic: Once again, concerning the first secret, who will experience, see, and be convinced and then be able to say: ‘Truly, that which has occurred or is occurring is the manifestation of the secret’? Who will be able to see all that?
Mirjana: All those who will be here or in the place(s) where the secret will unfold.
Father Ljubicic: Let me assume that this involves a specific place. All those who will wish to see and experience this sign or whatever the secret is, will they have to come to that particular place to see and experience this?
Mirjana: Well, father, surely no one wishes to watch disasters, distress, and misfortune. I don’t think that this kind of thing attracts people at all. Why would people go to see something of that sort? It is one thing to go and see a sign, quite another to go and see suffering or a disaster. Who would, for example, go to Italy to see a dam collapse? Who has that kind of a desire? I don’t think that anyone does – and that is how it will be with this secret. Whatever is in the secret, it will, of course, be something that everyone, everywhere, will immediately hear about.
Father Ljubicic: Tell me, if the secret involves a location rather than a condition or a situation, wouldn’t it be desirable to have as many people as possible see – to have as many eyewitnesses as possible – even though it may not be a joyful thing or something pleasant to look at?
Mirjana: Father, it will be obvious… It will be something that people will hear about very far.
Father Ljubicic: Out of the ten secrets that each of you will receive – and you and Ivanka [Ivankovic] already did [now also a third named Jakov Colo] – do you know which of them will be exactly the same? I mean, which secrets will be exactly the same for you, for Ivanka, and the others?
Mirjana: No, I don’t know.
Father Ljubicic: Someone said that only three of the secrets that each of you received are identical, while all the others are different.
Mirjana: The one about the sign is identical, I am positive about that because there will not be six different signs.
Father Ljubicic: Not on the same spot.
Mirjana: The sign is the same sign. Personally, I never spoke about the secrets with any [of the others]. After all, in the same way that the secrets were entrusted to me, that is how they were entrusted to the others as well.
Father Ljubicic: Thus far I never spoke with you about the permanency of the sign. Each of you maintains persistently that it will be indestructible, permanent, and very large. Accordingly, one will be able to understand it as something tangible.
Mirjana: Yes, the sign will be indestructible and permanent. Naturally, it will be clear to everyone that it is not something constructed and erected. Nobody will be able to say that it was brought and placed in that particular spot by, let us say, someone from Medjugorje.
Father Ljubicic: The sign’s manifestation – will it be during the day or night? By asking that, am I encroaching on the secret?
Mirjana: Oh, that is a secret. I cannot answer because that touches upon… the secret already has a specific date and time.
Father Ljubicic: Does the secret have a specified minute and second?
Mirjana: I know the exact day and the hour.
Father Ljubicic: Do you anticipate that there may be some people, some souls, who will perhaps ‘feel’ something, without anyone else’s knowledge or anticipation, that something is about to happen and will, therefore, come in large numbers?
Mirjana: I do not know. But I did have the opportunity to ask Our Lady something to that effect. I do know that, during the secret’s manifestation, there will be spiritual conversions.
Father Ljubicic: There will be conversions.
Mirjana: Yes, there will be conversions.
Father Ljubicic: Do you think that [of those who will convert] a majority of them will be those who were suspicious, who doubted, who didn’t believe?…
Mirjana: There will be all kinds: those who were just suspicious, those who didn’t believe at all, and others.
Father Ljubicic: Do you think that there will still be those who will remain hardened – despite the explicit, tangible, visible signs and warnings?
Mirjana: Yes.
Father Ljubicic: There will be?
Mirjana: Yes, there will be.
Father Ljubicic: Yes, of course, just as there always were. Even today, so many see the obvious works of God, yet they simply reject Him because they are so hardened, just as the Pharisees did.
Mirjana: Those are the ones who have shut their souls to God.
Father Ljubicic: Let me touch upon Our Lady’s latest message. It seems that Our Lady is drawing attention to our greatest enemy, Satan. It seems that he is increasing his attacks, that he is attempting to create confusion and entangle the entire situation.
Mirjana: He is responsible for the unbelievers. Satan. This is why she said to bless the home with Holy Water on Saturdays. He is the one who makes people into unbelievers. Who else?
Father Ljubicic: Do you think that Godlessness is growing or decreasing today?
Mirjana: Father, it is increasing. A miracle is necessary for Godlessness to decrease.
In a later interview with the same priest, Mirjana expanded upon the other secrets, urging especially conversion of the young. They were especially the ones Mary wept over, she explained. “I now know about things that are not particularly pleasant,” said the visionary, whose daily apparitions halted in 1982, when she received the tenth secret – the first of the six to do so. “I believe that if everyone knew about these same things, each one of these people would be ‘shocked’ to their senses and would view our world in a completely different light. Of course, my greatest advice to all is to pray for all the unbelievers. You see, Mary expends the greatest amount of time talking about that very thing. We must also not forget the elderly and the infirm. They are ours, too. They sacrificed their whole lives. Many of them lived their entire lives for God and in prayer. Their senior years shouldn’t have to be sad and miserable. I cannot elaborate much more, it is hard for me [to do that]. You see, so much is tied to the secrets. If the people saw the first secret, as it was shown to me, all of them would most certainly be shaken enough to take a new and different look at themselves and everything around them.”
Father Ljubicic: The manifestation of that secret, will it only be a momentary thing or will it be something that will last for an extended period?
Mirjana: It will last for a little while.
Father Ljubicic: Little while?
Mirjana: Little.
Father Ljubicic: Will its effect be lasting and permanent or will its effect be momentary and passing?
Mirjana: How can I explain that without encroaching on the secret? Let me just say that it won’t be good at all, it won’t be pleasant.
Father Ljubicic: After that, if anyone were to come here knowing that such and such had occurred, will that person be able to see anything – any evidence that something indeed did happen here?
Mirjana: Yes, yes, yes.
Father Ljubicic: It will be visible?
Mirjana: Yes.
Father Ljubicic: This whole situation: it seems that she is trying to prepare us and to ‘dress’ us with saintliness, God’s Love and perfection, so that we may greet Our Lord when He comes. Is there anything that signals something of that nature?
Mirjana: Just as any mother, she cares for her children. She wants us to come and meet God the Father well-prepared. She doesn’t want us to weep and wail when it’s too late. God said that He forgives at any time – providing the soul repents sincerely. All she asks for, the one thing she waits for, is for all of us to repent so that we may be forgiven. What follows are the secrets that are really unpleasant. I would be happy if everyone would finally understand that. I cannot tell [the secrets], but once they begin to be fulfilled, then it will be too late.
Father Ljubicic: Will the interval between the first and second secret be lengthy?
Mirjana: That varies according to the secrets. What I mean is that, for example, the time between the first and second secrets is of a certain period, between the second and third is of different length. For example, and I stress: for example, the first secret may take place today and the second one already tomorrow.
Father Ljubicic: Tell me, what do you think about the people who are specially inspired by God, I mean persons who are having genuine mystical experiences, the mysterious experiences? I am talking about those to whom God is showing and saying something, in a variety of ways – things that will occur in the future. Can you make a connection between them and the present world situation?
Mirjana: I believe that they, too, were chosen by Mary – just as we were. All of us were not chosen because we are somehow better than the rest – not at all. I simply mean that all of them were chosen to help people, to focus the people’s attention [on God], to tell people [about Him and all that will happen], to instruct the ones around them in some way, to talk with them and to tell them what Mary says. To do and say the same things that she tells us. Perhaps people will listen to them. The main task for all of us [seers] is to spread the faith in God.
[taken from Tower of Light]
[Resources: Mirjana’s book, My Heart Will Triumph]
