A Brief Story of the Garabandal Events

God Delivers His “Last Warnings”
to the World Through Mary

Garabandal visionaries — Conchita, Jacinta, Mari-Loli,and Mari Cruz.

The sacred events occurred in a small hamlet in the Cantabrian Mountains of northwestern Spain. Unknown now, but destined to become a religious shrine outshining all others; its name is Garabandal. Here, on June 18, 1961, an angel, later identified by Our Lady as the Archangel St. Michael, appeared to four unsophisticated young girls to begin a series of appearances and messages for the world extending over four years. The four children were Conchita Gonzales, Mary Loli-Mazon, Jacinta Gonzales and Mari Cruz Gonzales. None of the girls are closely related. At that time, three were twelve years old and the other only eleven. St. Michael told them that he had come to prepare them for the visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who would make her first appearance to them on Sunday, July 2, 1961. After this first apparition Our Lady appeared to the girls many hundreds of times, at all hours of the day and night, until her final appearance on November 13, 1965. The great number of appearances by Our Lady, alone emphasizes the tremendous importance of the information given to us, through her, by Almighty God.

The Messages

On July 4, 1961, Our Lady gave the girls the fi rst message and told the girls to make this message public on October 18, 1961. (See Box). The second message was given much later, toward the end of the apparitions. On January 1, 1965, the Blessed Virgin told Conchita that the Archangel St. Michael would appear on June 18 and would deliver a message in her name.

God’s Love Intervenes

Garabandal is essentially a message of hope. Mankind has turned away from God and is engaged in much wickedness. In justice, God could either punish mankind Himself or allow us reap the fruits of our own evil. Instead, He is giving us a fi nal chance. He has sent the Blessed Mother to tell us at Garabandal that we can come back to Him, through sacrifice, prayer and penance. Also, His love has not stopped at sending this message of hope. Knowing the hardness of our hearts, our blindness and our skepticism, He is sending us signs we cannot ignore. “It is an evil and unfaithful generation that asks for a sign” says Our Lord in Matthew 12:38-40. Yet God, out of the unfathomable depths of His mercy and love, is going to give us not one, but two signs. The seers of Garabandal refer to them as: “The Warning” and “The Miracle.”

THE WARNING

Conchita was advised by Our Lady at Garabandal on January 1, 1965, that God is going to send upon the world a great supernatural warning. This divine warning will be seen and experienced by every person in the world and will come directly from God. The purpose of this warning is to draw the good nearer to God and to turn the world away from sin. Conchita says that it will be experienced no matter wherever we might be – inside or outside. “It will,” she says, “be like the revelation of our sins, and it will be seen and felt equally by believers and non-believers and people of any religion whatsoever.” This warning will be “very fearful, a thousand times worse than earthquakes. It will be like fi re. It will not burn our flesh, but we will feel it bodily and interiorly. The warning is like a very terrifying thing that will occur in the sky.” To a question whether the warning would cause death, she replied, “If we die from it, it would not be from the warning itself, but from the emotional shock that we would experience in seeing and feeling the warning.” We must be careful in our consideration of the matter. The fear of God that is good is the fear that draws virtuous souls to God and prompts sinners to amend their lives. This is the purpose that Conchita ascribes to the warning: “Oh, but after the warning you will love the good Lord very much.” Our attitude towards this warning should be one of gratitude to God for His great mercy and love. He is going to purify us and He is going to make mankind really aware of Him once again. Our concern at this moment should be to get closer to God, cast sin from our lives and strive to love and serve Him better. If we do this, we will be prepared for the warning when it comes.

THE GREAT MIRACLE

Part of the purpose of this warning is to prepare the world for the great miracle. God’s love and mercy will not stop at making us aware of our own weakness and sinfulness. In addition, He is going to give us a further great sign, this time a positive sign of His love and concern for us. Conchita tells us about this in her Diary in the following words: “The Blessed Virgin Mary advised me of a great miracle, saying that God, Our Lord, would perform it through her intercession…The Blessed Virgin has told me the date of the miracle and what it will consist of. I am supposed to announce it 8 days in advance, that it will come…The sick who are present at the miracle will be cured and sinners will be converted…There will be no doubt [left] in the mind of anyone who sees this great miracle which God, Our Lord, will perform through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin. And now as we await this great day of the miracle, let us see if the world changes and the chastisement is averted.”

THE CHASTISEMENT

Both the first and second message make it clear that the warning and the great miracle are an attempt by God to persuade us to leave the ways which are going to bring down upon us, according to those messages, the full weight of divine justice – a divine chastisement of the world. If we do not heed the messages, the punishment announced by Our Lady will be visited upon the whole world after the miracle. Conchita has written: “I cannot reveal what kind of punishment it is except that it will be a result of the direct intervention of God, which makes it more terrible and fearful than anything we can imagine…” She describes it as “very, very great, in keeping with what we deserve.”