She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 81)

“She told us the same thing as on the previous day: Recite the rosary.”

The vigil of the Assumption was not the only one during those days. On the following Saturday, August 19th, the first Marian day following the feast, there was another one which was longer still, lasting almost the whole night, from Saturday until Sunday. Conchita mentions it in her diary like this:

As she had said, she came.

And she told us the same thing as on the previous day: Recite the rosary.

And we began the rosary.

And that night we went to the places where the Virgin had appeared to us at the beginning.

And after our ecstasy the people said that we had gone up to the Pines and that we had gone from pine to pine on our knees, praying . . .

And during that ecstasy, while we were seeing the Virgin, Mari Cruz, who had seen an apparition earlier, was in bed.

And we told the Virgin that she should tell us a song to sing to Mari Cruz.

We would compose some words and the Virgin would aid us with the others.

The songs were the following:

First she wrote the stanza already mentioned about the Bouquet of Flowers. Then follows:

Mari Cruz, Mari Cruz!
How sad you make us!
Pray hard to the Virgin
So that she will return to you.

Mari Cruz, Mari Cruz!
Do you smell the lilies?
The Virgin has brought them for you,
So that you will be better.

The Virgin stayed with us from nine at night until six in the morning.(8)
And that night we played Los Tios(9) with the Virgin.
Two of us hid, and the other one searched for us.
Another incredible surprise in the history of Garabandal! The Virgin joins in games with the young village girls.
This cannot be, many must exclaim. This is ridiculous, unbelievable, unacceptable. A good proof that neither the apparitions nor the ecstasies contain anything supernatural.

Well, I confess that I cannot understand the reason for such games; but there is nothing to stop me from accepting them if I have proof that they actually took place, and that the Virgin took part in them. Can I pretend to understand easily all the components of God's actions on the world and on souls? It is sufficient to have signs to indicate that these actions are from Him. And then I can be sure that all those things I do not understand obey a mysterious Divine Plan and occupy a place in the disposition of Providence.

My ways, says the Lord, are not your ways; and My thoughts are not your thoughts. (Isaah 55 : 8)
Besides, have there not been other episodes of interplay from on high and mysterious games with men?
There is an inspired text dating back thousands of years that the Church continually places on the lips of the Virgin:

I was set up from eternity, and of old,
Before the earth was made . . .
When He prepared the heavens, I was present.
When with a certain law and compass, He enclosed the depths;
When He established the sky above,
And poised the fountains of waters;
When He encompassed the sea with its bounds,
and set a law to the waters
That they should not pass their limits;
When He balanced the foundations of the earth;
I was with Him forming all things;
And was delighted every day,
Playing before Him at all times,
Playing in the world;
And my delights were to be with the children of men.
(Proverbs 8: 23-31)

There are games that take place between God and the Mother of God and mankind. The important thing is to discover the hidden meaning of these games. This is certain: if God and the Virgin play, it is not for entertainment alone. They seek always to communicate and instruct. Nevertheless, we do not understand everything, nor do we understand it immediately. The text of Scripture has its reason for stating, after having spoken of these mysterious games in the presence of God:

Now therefore, children, hear me.
Blessed are they that keep my way.
Hear instruction and be wise.
And refuse it not.
Blessed is the man that hears me.
And that watches daily at my gates,
And waits at the post of my doors.
He that shall find Me, shall find life,
And shall have salvation from the Lord.
But he that shall sin against Me, shall hurt his own soul.
All that hate Me, love death. (Proverbs 8: 32-36)

8. After such vigils the girls should have been exhausted, worn out . . . But no! The testimony about this is unanimous, and has been repeated many times.

When the girls lost sleep because of the apparitions, they did not suffer from any fatigue, and were able to begin the new day as if nothing happened. Without the necessity of recuperating the hours missing from their rest.

Taking into account that some or much of this occurred on so many nights during many months, can we not speak of a miracle?
9. Los tios — similar to the game of hide and seek.