(Source: Corriere Canadese – Italian Community Daily Newspaper)
https://www.corriere.ca/dal-canada-in-pellegrinaggio-a-medjugorje/
Original language: Italian
Translation: English
TORONTO – Sunday, May 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, coinciding with this solemnity, 45 faithful pilgrims gathered at the chapel of Pearson Airport in Toronto to celebrate Holy Mass before departing for Medjugorje (Bosnia-Herzegovina).
For those who are not aware, Holy Mass is celebrated every Saturday and Sunday in the airport chapel. But let us return to our pilgrimage, organized by Father Peter Choi, pastor of the new parish of St. Andre Bessette in Maple.
After the Mass, we proceed to the Lufthansa check-in, which will take us to Sarajevo via Frankfurt. Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, is a territory slightly larger than Sicily, nestled between Serbia and Croatia, and was the pivotal site of the Great War, the precursor of all other conflicts that devastated this and other regions of Europe and the world, spreading destruction and death up to our times. It is precisely here, in this charming land, amidst the verdant and radiant countryside, which hides much sadder memories of a not-so-distant war from the 1990s, among fields lined by long pristine rivers and topaz-colored lakes, on hills overlooked by imposing Olympic mountains like Treskavica, that the Madonna chose to appear to 7 young locals in 1981 to bring her message of peace to the world.
For 43 years now, the Queen of Peace has appeared almost daily to the visionaries in Medjugorje, a small Catholic center, a Catholic minority, among Muslim villages dotted with their minarets and mosques that cover the vast majority of the territory.
The Church of Rome does not officially recognize the apparitions and events in Medjugorje that the apparitions are in continuation and messages of Fatima in Portugal from the last century.
Our guide, Branca, welcomes us on the bus that takes us from Sarajevo to our hotel in Medjugorje with a cheerful message that immediately puts us at ease: “If you are here today,” she says with friendly tone, “it is because the Queen of Peace has invited you and wants you here today.” Branca will accompany us on this pilgrimage.
At the hotel, we honor our spiritual director Fr. Peter Choi, who today, on the day of Our Lady of Fatima, celebrates his eighteenth year of priesthood.
The top photo shows the participants of the pilgrimage to Medjugorje at Pearson International Airport in Toronto; below, Father Peter Jae Choi celebrates his 18th year of priesthood, and some scenic images taken during the pilgrimage.
