WHAT IS GARABANDAL?: Garabandal: The First Message

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Garabandal: The First Message

The First Message

October 18, 2011
Dear Friends,
Today we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the proclamation of the First Message of Our Lady of Mount Carmel de Garabandal.
News of the apparitions, which had begun on June 18, 1961 with the appearance of Saint Michael the Archangel, had spread sufficiently to draw a great crowd which gathered for the announcement. Anticipation ran high despite the heavy rain which fell throughout the day.
That evening, before the nine pine trees overlooking the village, the visionaries read the Message entrusted to them by the Holy Virgin on July 4:
We must make many sacrifices, perform much penance, and visit the Blessed Sacrament frequently. But first, we must lead good lives. If we do not, a chastisement will befall us. The cup is already filling up, and if we do not change, a very great chastisement will come upon us.
Like the echo of Fatima, this Message calls to every heart for conversion. Sacrifices and penances performed in a true spirit of contrition, increased devotion to the Eucharist and renewed efforts to sanctify our lives are required to avert a coming chastisement.
The heavenly counsel of Massabeille, "Penance, Penance, Penance" reaffirmed in the Cova de Ira in 1917 as the remedy for the spreading contagion of Communism and the unnecessary tragedy of the Second World War is brought forward to the seventh decade of the twentieth century to a world in crisis.
At Garabandal, on that tempestuous night, many went away dissatisfied. The intensity and frequency of the ecstasies had lead them to believe they were about to receive a major new revelation. The First Message was too simple, too childlike. It did not contain the vivid illustration of the future sought out by the merely curious.
The reading of the First Message marks the culmination of the first cycle of apparitions and the events of 1961, but this would not be the last word from Our Lady of Mount Carmel de Garabandal.
How can we best comply with Our Lady's requests of the First Message?
We must begin with the Church's traditional three part teaching on penance: prayer (especially the daily recitation of the rosary), fasting, and almsgiving. Once we have fully mastered these practices, welcoming them within the limits of our state in life, we will be very close to leading the good lives required by the First Message.
Second, as taught by Sister Lucia of Fatima, we must train ourselves in distress and adversity to unite with Christ in prayer, offering our discomfort as a sacrifice in reparation for our sins and the sins of others. We encourage you to adopt the Morning Offering of Reparation, by which we offer the prayers, works, joys and suffering of each day for the sins of the world.
In Union of Prayer,
The Workers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel de Garabandal
Lindenhurst, NY USA
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If you are a member of our email subscription service and would like to receive a free copy of the documentary The Message of Garabandal please email us atjoey@garabandalny.org with DVD in the subject line and your name, mailing address and country in the text body.
To assist in the promotion of the Message we permit anyone who has received the DVD directly from the New York Center to produce copies as long as these are also distributed without cost.
If you would like to assist the promotion by posting a foreign language copy of theMessage of Garabandal to a non US video sharing website send us an email with your intentions and we will send you a foreign language master copy.
Please visit our website - www.garabandal.us - and encourage others to do so. Please forward these emails on to your contacts to assist the spread of the Message.
Remember every day; Mass and Holy Communion, the Rosary, the Scapular, the Morning Offering of Reparation and Devotion to Saint Michael. Pray for priests.
Please make this Message known as Our Lady requested.
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MORNING OFFERING OF REPARATION
O JESUS,
through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and in union with Holy Sacrifice of the Mass being offered throughout the world, I offer You all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day in reparation for the offenses committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for my sins and the sins of the whole world. Amen

P.O. Box 606, Lindenhurst, NY 11757-0606
Garabandal

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UPDATE: THE CHURCH"S POSITION ON GARABANDAL

The magazine "Garabandal Journal" has updated some information regarding the village of Garabandal, the current Bishop and Pastor.
For many years, while never being condemned, the Garabandal events were under a dark cloud as some of the first bishops (but not all) opposed the events. But the tide started to change with Bishop Juan Antonio del Val Gallo (1971-1991). While he at first did not believe in the apparitions he took a more open position. In 1981, he became a believer and during his reign, he lifted the ban on priests going up to the village and allowed them to celebrate Mass in the village church with the permission of the village pastor. The next bishop, Jose Vilaplana Blasco, was a non-believer, but left in place the positive changes made by Bishop del Val. In 2006, he was transferred to another diocese in southern Spain and Archbishop of Oviedo, Carlos Osoro Sierra, was made Apostolic Administrator of Santander. The Archbishop, building on the positive measures taken by Bishop Del Val, allowed priests visiting Garabandal to celebrate Mass in the village church even if the pastor was not there (he ministered to a number of other villages and was not always in Garabandal). The Archbishop also gave visiting priests faculties to hear confessions.
In 2007, Ed Kelly from the United States, wrote to the Archbishop requesting the current status of Garabandal and received a letter from the prelate, under his own stationary and signed by him dated May 7, 2007, in which he said: "I respect the apparitions and have known of authentic conversions. In light of these events, how can we not always feel the need to open our heart to our mother Mary to tell her that we need her protection, help, spirit, desire, hope and love! I encourage you to continue maintaining this devotion to our Mother."
In 2011, two 50th anniversaries were celebrated in Garabandal (1) for the first appearance of St. Michael on June 18, 1961, and (2) the first vision of Our Lady on July 2, 1961. The celebrations were conducted under the auspices of the Santander Diocese represented by the village pastor Fr. Rolando Cabeza (also dean of the area). During the celebrations, another ban was lifted when Fr. Cabeza, spoke of the apparitions from the pulpit, and read the two formal Messages of Our Lady at Garabandal.
On May 6, 2012, current Bishop of Santander, Vecente Jimenez Zamora (installed in 2007) celebrated a Mass in Garabandal in commemoration of the completion of a restoration project of the village church. In a refreshments period after Mass, he was open and most cordial with all the villagers and visitors. On May1, 2013, the Bishop again celebrated Mass in the village church of Garabandal and prior to the Mass, kissed a crucifix belonging to villager David Toribio that was kissed by the Blessed Virgin at Garabandal. We don't know if the Bishop knew that but we suspect he did.
Bishop Jimenez's Masses in Garabandal were firsts, since no Bishop of Santander had ever said Mass in the village church from the time the apparitions began in 1961.
Deacon John

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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Garabandal: The First Message

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