In June 1981, in the quiet village of Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Blessed Virgin Mary reportedly appeared to six young people and delivered a plea to be reconciled to God. Over the past 18 years, millions of lives have been changed as a result of witnessing this continuing apparition. When Weible (Medjugorje: The Message) began his journalistic coverage of the phenomenon, he was a skeptical unbeliever; his professed encounter with the Mother of God at Medjugorje led to his eventual conversion to Christianity and his commitment to report on the power of these apparitions. Here, Weible records the conversations that various witnesses allegedly have had with the Blessed Virgin Mother. The author weaves into these messages details about the background of the particular apparition. Weible reports, for example, that in 1985 the Virgin is said to have appeared to a woman named Marija and to have commented on the growing number of books and articles concerning her appearances: ""See, now I am there in each family, in each home! I am everywhere because I love. Do the same. The world lives from love."" The Virgin's message over the years has not changed; she continues to urge people to be reconciled to God so that they can be reconciled to one another. Weible believes that the consistency of her message and the responses to her words point to this reconciliation as the ""final harvest of souls,"" that when these apparitions are concluded, the world will ""undergo a spiritual cleansing that will mark the beginning of an unprecedented era of peace through a full return to God."" Weible's book offers an update on reports of the Blessed Virgin's continued appearances in the midst of a war-ravaged country pleading for peace and reconciliation. (June)
