Garabandal and the Double Threat - Garabandal News

Garabandal and the Double Threat - Garabandal News

Garabandal and the Double Threat

Our Lady Prophesied ‘The Double Threat’

By Fr Joseph Pelletier. A.A.

The
Priesthood and the Eucharist are the heart and life-blood of the
Church. For some time now, both have been – and still are – the object
of one of the most furious onslaughts of the evil one ever witnessed in
Church history. The Church is presently experiencing a terrible crisis;
some say it is the worst of all time, because it is being seriously
threatened from both without and within.

Our Lady
saw this ‘double threat’ long before it was apparent to most of us. She
began to warn us as early as 1917 at Fatima. Her warning became even
clearer and insistent from 1961 to 1965 at Garabandal. There she spoke
openly of the crisis in both the priesthood and the Eucharist. And she
continued to speak almost daily over a period of a year and a half, from
the middle of 1961 to the end of 1962. With the exception of the
rosary, she talked most about this crisis to the four visionaries during
the 2,000 apparitions which took place in the tiny village of
Garabandal high in the beautiful Cantabrian mountains of north western
Spain. That she talked so often of both the priesthood and the Eucharist
is not surprising since they are so intimately connected.

Focus On The Eucharist



At Garabandal, Our Lady spoke of the Eucharist in each of her two
formal messages; that of October 18, 1961 and that of June 18, 1965. In
the first message, she said, “We must visit the Blessed Sacrament
frequently.” In the second, “Less and less importance is being given to
the Eucharist.” This and the other parts of the first message, were
brought to the attention of the seers before October 18, 1961. St
Michael, the archangel, was the first to appear at Garabandal. He came
initially on June 18, 1961. On June 24, the fifth time he appeared, he
had a sign beneath him inscribed with the first message of Garabandal,
but the girls were too attracted by the beauty of the angel to pay
attention to the sign, and the angel said nothing. However, on July 4,
the third day Our Lady came, she communicated the message that had been
on the sign and told the girls to announce it publicly on October 18,
1961. Later, she explained the meaning of the message to them. In fact,
she instructed them many times, telling them how to fulfil it and
reproaching them when they neglected to do so. In a letter to Fr Jose
Ramon Garcia de la Riva, dated May 26, 1962, Mari Loli wrote, “She
(the Blessed Virgin) tells us every day to be better, to visit the
Blessed Sacrament more often and to say the rosary every day.”

Before The Tabernacle

Our
Lady’s messages and teachings to the girls were meant for us as well as
for them. Some of the instruction was conveyed not only through her
words to them, but through their actions, through the things they were
led to do. Two of these “teachings in action” deal with Our Lord in the
tabernacle. During the early days of the apparitions, Our Lady quite
frequently led the girls into the village church and had them kneel and
pray before the tabernacle.

Fr Jose de la Riva describes his
witness of this event the very first time he visited Garabandal on
August 22, 1961. It was in the evening, after the daily rosary. The
girls had gone into ecstasy outside the church and went inside once
without going to the tabernacle. Then later, they returned: “Several
times the girls came back into the church, two by two: Conchita and
Mari-Cruz, Jacinta and Mari Loli. They came and placed themselves beside
me on the first step of the altar (where I was praying at the time).
All I had to do was turn my head slightly and I could observe perfectly
the unfolding of these phenomena that at first glance appeared to be
mystical. They prayed with fervour and in a low voice before the
tabernacle. Their entire bearing was a thing of admirable beauty. Their
heads were tilted backward slightly and their faces were transparent as
though lighted from within by a light that would have been dazzling if
it had not been tempered by an unctuous sweetness.”

Mary’s Motherly Wisdom



So it was that Mary, with motherly wisdom, supplemented and reinforced
her verbal message to visit the Blessed Sacrament frequently with the
powerful teaching of this example. Even after the ecclesiastical
authorities at Santander had forbidden the girls to enter the church in
the state of ecstasy, Our Lady continued to use them to teach the lesson
of visiting the Blessed Sacrament. She led them in ecstasy (when they
walked in ecstasy, it is because they followed the vision, as she moved)
around the church, reciting the rosary or singing the Salve Regina. On
other occasions, she led them often at the end of an apparition, to
within inches of the door of the church – as close as they could get –
and had them fall on their knees. In these miraculous ways, the girls in
ecstasy still “visited” the Blessed Sacrament as best they could. These
acts, perhaps more than anything else, reveal the importance the
Blessed Virgin attached to “visiting Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. “

Respect for Our Lord’s Presence

Our
Blessed Mother used the girls in ecstasy to teach us still another
lesson regarding the Sacrament of Christ’s Love - namely, the respect we
should manifest. After bringing the girls to kneel and pray for a short
while (“one minute”, ”a few minutes,” according to early Notes of the Pastor,
Don Valentin Marichalar), at the foot of the main altar and just a few
feet from the tabernacle, Our Lady led them, still in ecstasy, but
walking backwards, from the main altar and tabernacle to either a side
altar to say the rosary, or out of the church completely. The deeply
religious and highly sensitive Simon, Jacinta’s father, was struck by
this and grasped its meaning. Here are his comments:

“I also
noticed something else. Whenever, in ecstasy, the girls left the main
altar to go to another altar or to leave the church, they always moved
backward until they reached the door of the Church. Never in ecstasy did
they turn their backs to the Blessed Sacrament. Never, never! In
reality, their manner of acting was a lesson for us, but they never
boasted about it.”

Of course, it was the basic message of
respect toward the Blessed Sacrament and not this particular manner of
expressing it that Our Lady was teaching us through this unusual conduct
of the girls.

Our Lady’s Message – Prophetic

It is
important to note the prophetic nature of Our Lady’s message in regard
to the Blessed Sacrament. She foresaw that the number of people visiting
the Blessed Sacrament would decline and that there would also be a loss
of respect toward it. It is as though she were saying, “Be careful,
I am warning you in advance, the time is soon coming when people will
rarely visit the Blessed Sacrament and when many will fail to maintain a
respectful attitude in its presence.”

Here is what Conchita
had to say in a February 7, 1974 interview concerning these two points.
Her remarks were made in reply to a question asking what she thought
offended Our Lord most in regard to our attitude and conduct toward the
Blessed Sacrament. “Indifference” When we are in church, we
talk with one another and do not think who it is in the tabernacle. If
the pope or the president were sitting in this room, would you waste
your time to talk to me or to someone else? No, your attention would be
on the great person present. In too many ways, people forget that it is
Jesus on the altar and in the tabernacle. We must believe in faith that
it is He. Besides daily Mass, Communion and the rosary we must go often
to pay a visit to Our Lord in the churches where He is alone.”

Lack of Faith the Real Cause

Conchita
put her finger on the real cause of all our failings toward the Blessed
Sacrament – our lack of faith in the Real or Divine Presence. It is
because we do not have a lively faith in Jesus’ presence in the
tabernacle that we talk in church, fail to genuflect properly, make no
real effort to greet Him, and pray to Him after we have entered our pew.
Moreover, there is the whole question of proper and modest attire,
especially in the summer and on Sundays at Mass. We need to acknowledge
that we have been led, little by little, step by step, to a point of
widespread, and at times appalling, lack of respect for our heavenly
Father’s house. As a result, our attitude often differs little from our
behaviour in the parish hall. Our Lady wants you to visit her divine Son
in your churches. She also wants you to maintain a respectful attitude
when in His presence. Remember, only you can satisfy her prayers. Have
you the heart to deny her?

http://www.garabandal.com/the-prophecies-of-garabandal/prophecy-of-the-double-threat.html

The Eucharistic Message of Garabandal

By Father Joseph Pelletier AA

for NEEDLES – Spring 1972

In
numerous ways, Our Lady at Garabandal has re-confirmed the Church’s
centuries-old teaching regarding the Living Presence and Power of Jesus
in the Eucharist. Fr. Pelletier, in this first of several articles,
discusses one aspect of the Euchaistic Message of Garabandal.

One of the powerful signs of the authenticity of the Garabandal message is that it is Christ-centered.
Its Christ-centeredness comes principally from its Eucharistic thrust:
Communion (taught by way of the mystical Communion given to the girls by
the angel), visiting the Blessed Sacrament, prayer for priests and
thinking about the passion of Jesus. Mary’s mission was, and always
is to draw us to Jesus, and it is by this drawing to Jesus that we are
able to recognize her authentic presence.

Mary did not
mention herself in the two, “Official” messages of October18, 1961, and
June 18, 1965. The recommendation of the rosary, which she made every
time she came, was done in a more informal manner in the course of her
conversations with the girls. So, too, with the scapular. It was
recommended in an indirect fashion-by the title Our Lady chose, that of
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and by the large scapular which she always
wore over her right arm.

The first message of 1961 was a call to
penance and repentance, a plea to seek “forgiveness with sincere
hearts”. It contained another reminder of the “Eucharist to which less
and less importance is being given.” It called out attention to priests,
sorely in need of prayers-priests, the ministers of the Eucharist. It
asked us to “think about the passion of Jesus”- Jesus, the High Priest
who perpetuates the sacrifice of the cross through the Mass.

It
would seem that we are just know beginning to understand the full
meaning and importance of the Eucharistic message of Garabandal. This
message was seen at first as a reminder and defense of the traditional
Catholic view of the Eucharistic and especially of the reality of the
divine presence. This understanding of the Eucharistic message of
Garabandal is, of course, correct and was very much needed in the days
of unbelievable confusion that followed the Ecumenical Council Vatican
II.

However, the Holy Spirit, with whom Mary is inseparably
bound, is leading the Church to a fuller and richer understanding of all
of the channels of grace, among which the Eucharist is one of the most
important and far-reaching.This fuller and richer understanding is
not really something new. It is more accurately a return to the
belief-and practice- of the early Church. The Holy Spirit is reminding
us of something that, at least in practice, we had forgotten, namely,
that the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist and Penance, have
important functions of healing.

In regard to the Eucharist, most
of the stress in the past was on the “food” or strengthening aspect of
the sacrament. This certainly is an authentic and important aspect of
the Eucharist. But the risen Christ who comes to us to strengthen our
souls and help them grow in the love of God also comes to us with the
fullness of his healing power, the same healing power that flowed from
his person during the years of his public ministry. In those days it was
enough to touch the hem of his garment with faith and expectancy to be
healed both physically and morally.

How far greater is the
intimacy of our contact with Christ through the Eucharist! Christ knows
the tremendous need for healing we all have today, physical,
psychological and spiritual healing. He loves us no less than he loved
the Jews of His day. His power is not lessened in any way, and at
Communion we are in unbelievably close contact with that power. What is
the matter then? Why aren’t we healed? Very simply, because we don’t
believe that He wants to heal us. And not believing this, we don’t ask
Him to heal us. It is truly as simple as that.

Faith and
expectancy, believing and asking, are most important if we want to
receive God’s gifts. He imposes nothing on us. He has given us a free
will and respects that will. HE waits on us. He invites us but we must
accept the invitation. In the book of Revelation, we are told: “Here I
stand, knocking at the door. If anyone hears me calling and opens the
door, I will enter his house and have supper with him, and he with me”
(2:20).

Jesus stands and knocks, but will not force His way in. We
must open the door. We must want Him to come in and we must indicate
this to Him. We do this in prayer by asking. To ask is to open the door.
He stands at our door with all His power, the same power He used during
his mortal life to expel demons, cure the sick and raise the dead. But
we don’t ask Him to come in and use that power. We stand there facing
each other, Jesus and us, with only a door that we can push to open
separating us. And if we fail to push the door open, Jesus’ power
remains unused and fruitless to the pain and sorrow of His loving and
merciful heart.

Yes, Jesus is pained and sorrowed at not being
able to use His power for us, at our lack of confidence in His love for
us. We offend His love when we do not ask, we are in reality saying to
Him; “I do not dare to ask because I do not think you will give me what I
want. I am not sure that you love me enough to give me what I ask.”

It
all reduces itself to our faith, or lack of faith, in His love. If we
truly believed in His love, we would ask Him to move the mountain of
physical, psychological and spiritual ailments that are crushing us and
breaking our spirits and removing all joy from our hearts.

“Let
him drink, who believes in me. Scripture has it: From within him rivers
of living waters shall flow,” Jesus said (Jn 7:37-38). Not a little
trickle of water will moisten our lips, but flowing rivers of water
shall refresh our body and soul if we believe and ask, expecting to
receive and “never doubting” (Jas 1:6). Jesus also said, “I came that
they might have life and have it to the full” (Jn 10:10). Have life to
the full! This is what He came to bring us with His power.

Jesus
was really quite clear in what He said. Also, knowing “what little sense
we have, and how slow we are to believe” ( Acts 24:25), He repeated the
same thing many times. One of his clearest and most complete statements
concerning this is found in John 14:12-14: “I solemnly assure you, the
man who has faith in me will do the works I do and greater far than
these. Why? Because I go to the Father, and whatever you ask in my name I
will do, so as to glorify the Father in the Son. Anything you ask in my
name I will do.”

When Jesus performed miracles during His life,
he glorified his Father. When he performs miracles today at our asking,
He also glorifies the Father. He wants to glorify the Father in this
way, and we deprive Him of opportunities to do this when we do not ask
Him to perform “great works” in us and through us.

The glory of the Father is the ultimate purpose of all Jesus did and does.
The immediate purpose of what Jesus did and does concerns us. From our
point of view, He performed and wants to continue performing miracles
and healings so that we might “have life to the full.” Fullness of life
includes joy and happiness: “Ask and you shall receive, that your joy
may be full” (Jn 16:24).

Jesus wants to heal us so that we may
know full joy and happiness. This is not to say that He wants to remove
the cross completely from our life, that He does not want us to suffer.
He explicitly told us we would have to take up our cross and follow His
example of suffering. But there are many forms of suffering besides
physical, psychological and moral suffering. There is the hardship, the
fatigue and often the anxiety that go with the fulfillment of our duty
of state, the monotony of daily tasks, the problems of raising a family,
of priestly and other ministries and services.

The healing which
Jesus wishes to perform above all is inner healing, healing of the mind,
of the spirit, of the soul. There are so many things in our minds, our
memories, our subconscious, our weak nature that are obstacles to God’s
love in our lives. These are the things He ardently wants to see removed
and healed, so that His love may take over more completely in us. And
these are the healings that are in fact being obtained most frequently

The
promises obtained in Scripture and mentioned above are indeed being
claimed in faith and are being fulfilled with ever growing frequency
today. We know of what we speak. We have heard and observed these things
ourselves. God loves us much more that we can ever imagine. He is not
failing us. We are failing Him by not believing in His love and by not
claiming in faith His loving promises. Those who are stepping out in
faith and are asking, expecting to receive and never doubting, are
finding out that God does indeed love us dearly and is pouring out His
love in a lavish manner. They are discovering what St. Paul and all the
saints have discovered, that Jesus is indeed “Him whose power now at
work in us can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine” (Eph 3:20).

This power of the risen Christ is most likely to be released in us at Holy Communion.
It is especially then that we should ask Jesus for inner healing, but
not only for inner healing. We should not hesitate to ask him to cure
our physical or bodily ailments, too. It is not harder for Him to do one
or the other, or indeed both at the same time. But it is generally
better to ask for one thing at a time. However, do not put any limits on
His love for you or on His power. Ask for everything you need. Remember
that healings are generally slow and gradual and normally take time.
Our faith and our virtue is perfected in patience and perseverance.

But
do not overlook or neglect the divine friend who remains with us, night
and day; in our tabernacles. It is the same risen Christ that we
receive in Holy Communion. His power can pierce the tabernacle door and
reach us in the church pew as easily as it does at Communion. We should
not be satisfied with a monthly Eucharistic vigil. If we had lively
faith, we would “visit the Blessed Sacrament frequently,” as Our Lady
requested in her first message at Garabandal.

Remember
what Conchita has said: “The Blessed Virgin told us that it is a
greater grace to receive Jesus in Holy Communion than to see her.”

http://www.garabandal.us/the-eucharistic-message-of-garabandal-rev-joseph-pelletier-aa/



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