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Hello, First of all, let me introduce myself,
My name is Elie MATTA, I am from Lebanon, graduated as computer communication engineering and working in the industrial automation system. I was raised in a very religious Christian family. I first started getting to know God at school and then I became more and more involved with church through the Mariam Apostolic Movement. When I entered university, I joined the pastoral group.
Back then, I wasn’t really close to the Virgin Mary.
One time, I was discussing with a friend and told him how I got real close to God and the saints but Virgin Mary remains a secret for me.
My friend answered: That’s easy, just ask her to introduce herself to you.
That’s how I started praying everyday to Virgin Mary, asking her to be part of my life. The more days passed the more I started to know her better.
When I graduated from university, I joined a prayer group, Podbordo. The founder of this group was so touched by Medjugorje that he asked the Virgin Mary to help him create something meaningful in Lebanon.
I had this feeling that Virgin Mary was calling me to join the group through the founder.
In fact, back then, I was really hesitating to join the group because of my intense life between work and personal issues…
I ended up joining the group, but I remember being in a very bad psychological state because of the stress I was going through. 6 months later, I finally took the decision of leaving the group.
That day, the group coordinator was really shocked and asked me to think about it but I declined her request. My decision was final. I was going to assist to my final meeting with Podbordo.
It was Christmas time, and we were praying the rosary, the coordinator asked us to imagine ourselves on Christ’s feet, then we would pray for an intention. I asked Jesus a simple question: what do you want from me?
We finished praying the rosary and we opened the holy bible. While I was waiting for the coordinator to tell us what page we were going to read together, I randomly opened a page from the bible…the coordinator looked at me and said, since you already have your bible opened, why don’t you read the passage you have in front of you?
“Women behold your son, then he said to the disciple behold your mother”
The verse was like a flash in life, it would turn me upside down, and so it did. I knew it was a message from God asking me not to leave my mother; I had to behold my mother and continue my mission. That’s how my story began with the Virgin Mary. The more time passes the more I become close to her and asked her to help me pray the one rosary every night.
A few months later, we organized a trip to Medjugorje. I always wanted to visit the place and live an unforgettable week of praying and fasting. I wasn’t really coming to meet Virgin Mary; I wasn’t either coming to experience something new. It was more for a praying purpose. I could pray to Virgin Mary back in Lebanon at Harissa’s basilic for instance, so I didn’t expect this trip to be the trip of my life, rather a nice praying trip. When I first arrived to Medjugorje, I felt something I can’t describe. Every day during Virgin Mary’s apparition, I could feel her benediction, I always felt new graces and I remember this very special moment where I felt her so close to me, tears of joy streamed down my face.
The rescucito cross was the most touching. I would come pray there every day for the Rosary of the Divine Mercy…Podbordo hill was the best experience of my life. I have been part of the Podbordo group since 2000 and finally had the chance to go to the hill that led to the group’s creation. I kneeled and thanked Virgin Mary for everything. Krisevak cross is an unforgettable place. This painful road where we had to carry the cross from one stage to another helps you believe in yourself and in the power you get from your beliefs.
When we came back to Lebanon, I had something in mind, I should pray the entire rosary every day, I should pray the entire rosary everyday! I can’t do this holy Mary, it’s very hard! At this point, instead of asking virgin to help me pray one rosary, I would ask her to help me the entire rosary.
One day, I was talking with a friend of mine. This very close friend was going through a hard time; his responsibility in Podbordo was one of the reasons, and also the lack of time…
I couldn’t handle seeing him that sad, that’s when I committed on praying 3 rosary everyday on his intention.
A couple of months later, I felt that I wasn’t praying the rosary for that person; I was simply praying it because that’s what Virgin Mary wanted me to do.
Days passed and we were in May. I took a decision: I should pray the entire(4) rosary every day. And that’s how I started praying the entire rosary every day.
One day, while I was really stressed from work and from many responsibilities at Podbordo, I was asked to create an Arabic website dedicated to Medjugorje. The web designer asked for a huge amount of money…I couldn’t just forget about the website, I had to do this for Virgin Mary. She never let me down, how would I let her down? It was a Saturday, and I had a meeting with the founder and on my way to the meeting, I kept thinking that this money would better go for a charity purpose, not for a designer! It took me almost 20 minutes to get to the meeting, and I was crying all the way, asking from Virgin Mary to help me.
That’s when I decided to create the website by myself, knowing that I wasn’t that much of a website creator back then. My first website was not bad at all. That day, the group founder was on Medjugorje live website, I kneeled during the apparition and prayed with all my heart, I felt grace coming to me, the same feeling I felt here in Medjugorje …
3 days later, I had so much work to finish that I couldn’t find any time to pray the rosary; I didn’t even pray the “hail Mary”. That day I cried so much, u see, when you love someone, you have to give him everything from your heart, and that day I couldn’t even give virgin Mary a minute from my time.
The most memorable lesson I learned since I left Medjugorje is that praying during apparition time should not be a ritual we do when we come back to our country, for one month or 2, and then forget about the whole thing and come back to our lives. Our experience in Medjugorje should affect our everyday actions for the rest of our lives. That’s what I have been trying to do since I came back from Medjugorje, to this day; I still pray the entire rosary every day, because I love Virgin Mary.
Thank you.