22 priests concelebrated, and those present were greeted at the beginning by the parish priest and administrator of the sanctuary, rev. Franjo Tomić, who thanked the faithful of the Žepče deanery for coming, as well as the pilgrims from more distant communities.

Learn from Jesus

In his sermon, Bishop Sudar emphasized that St. Leopold applied to himself what Jesus announced. He mentioned that in the epistle, St. John the Apostle says "God is love" and explained that "all who love will be in God and God in them".

"Sinners were the most willing to turn to Jesus, and He was happy to meet them. Leopold loved people and let them know that God loves sinners and wants them to convert. This great saint brought people closer to God in the confessional for 40 years", said Msgr. Sudar and pointed out that the feeling of spiritual relief after confession and the joy that comes from it seems to have disappeared today.

He added that Leopold learned from Jesus to be humble of heart. Along these lines, he also mentioned the issue of emigration from this area. "It happens that we ask for more than we need and we leave here. However, we must be aware that we who live here are closer to each other, no matter what our names are or how we pray to God. It is true that throughout history we have lived here together and each of us has felt suffering for certain periods. This can be an incentive for us to understand each other and patiently build a better present in this beautiful country", said Bishop Pero, among other things.

An important relic

The liturgical singing was animated by the parish choir led by sister Ivko Paurević. About 900 souls participated in the central Holy Mass celebration.

The religious community in Maglaj prepared for the celebration of the patron saint with a Triduum  during which the Holy Mass was led by: rev. Stipo Knežević, parish priest from Zavidovići, OFM Željko Brkić, parish priest in Osova, and OFM Josip Jukić, parish priest in Novi Šeher. There were an average of 350 believers at the Eucharist.

Let us remind you that the Maglaj sanctuary houses, after Padua, the largest relic of St. Leopold Mandić, part of his right hand with which he absolved sins. Sometimes this saint used to confess for 12 hours without interruption in his confessional in Padua and was a great supporter of ecumenism.

In the Archdiocese of Vrhbosan, religious communities that are dedicated to this saint: Briješće in Sarajevo, Dragunja near Tuzla, and Dragalovci and Ljubinja in the Banja Luka diocese.

Interestingly, Greek Catholics are especially connected with the Maglaj shrine through a unique picture painted by the late priest from Žumberak Zlatko Latković, He painted the picture according to the instructions of late rev. Ante Baković, who believed that it was especially important to develop ecumenism among Christians and dialogue with Muslims in Bosnia. The painting named Our Lady of Bosnia is unique because three peoples in BiH are depicted under her mantle: Croats, Serbs and Bosniaks.

Finally, it is worth adding that the church in Maglaj is one of the five sanctuaries of the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna.