Another Great Story From The Workers of Our Lady - Canada

A Special Place

Since the time of the apparitions, phenomena have been seen in the sky above Garabandal signifying the special nature of this place.

Reprinted with kind permission from GARABANDAL JOURNAL January-February 2009

by Barry Hanratty

Most of what happened at Garabandal in the 1960's happened on the ground, but sometimes phenomena was seen also in the sky above the village. And while the apparitions ended in the 1960's, phenomena in the sky continued to be reported from time to time. Only recently, we received the account of what Mother Maria Nieves Garcia experienced on her visit to Garabandal in 1967. Here is her testimony. [ED: picture above taken by Dr. Mike on first trip to Garabandal].

"At 2:00 p.m., on August 2, 1967, I was in a group of people walking up the hill from Cosio to Garabandal on a very sunny day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and I was feeling close to sunstroke. Just before we arrived at Garabandal, I looked at the sky and saw what everyone else in our group saw -- a double rainbow around the sun. We could look at it without any eyestrain. Our little group included my sister, Dr. Mestre, former director of health care in Madrid, his family and a previous student from our school in Burgos. We were all able to observe the phenomenon with any strain on our eyes. I warned them, ‘Be careful not to damage your eyes!’ and they responded ‘It’s not hurting us at all.’ Is this possible? A double rainbow around the sun at the beginning of August, without any clouds, at two in the afternoon? How curious that we all could look at it without any difficulty.

“Sometime later I read that, ‘the rainbow is a band of seven colors of the spectrum caused by refraction and reflection of sunlight on clouds and raindrops suspended in the atmosphere after a rain.’ I asked a professor if what we saw could have been an illusion and he answered, ‘Apart from whether you saw a rainbow or not, the fact is, under those circumstances, you could not possibly have looked at the sun.’”

While the experience of Mother Nieves and her group had to do with the sun, and a rainbow as have others, during the Garabandal events in the 1960’s the celestial phenomena was different and directly related to the events that were taking place. Here are two examples taken from Conchita’s diary: “During one of our apparitions, as Loli and I were coming down from the pines with a large number of people, we saw a thing like fire in the clouds. The people who were with us saw it, and so did those who weren’t with us. [The Virgin] told us that is what she came in … “During one of our other apparitions that occurred on the feast of Our Lady of Pilar [actually the early morning hours of the next day], as Loli and I were looking at the Blessed Virgin, we saw beneath her feet a star with a very long trail. A certain number of people saw it also. We asked the Blessed Virgin what it meant, but she didn’t answer us.”

Of this second occurrence, Father Eusebio Garcia de Pesquera explained in She Went in Haste to the Mountain (SWIH)the experience of those other people mentioned by Conchita: “…toward 2:30 a.m., almost no one remained in the little village plaza except a small group consisting of responsible men…. [They soon saw Conchita and Loli go under the balcony or terrace connected to the house of Loli’s grandmother. They were in ecstasy there, and raising up their arms, the two girls simultaneously let out a shout. Dr. Ortiz gives us his account of the event: ‘Instinctively we looked toward the sky and saw a very brilliant star cross from the north to the south (that is, in the direction of the pines), leaving a trail that lasted several seconds. I know that Maximina Gonzalez and other women of the village saw the star too. On the other hand some young boys, who were at the entrance of Ceferino’s house and who ran toward the girls on hearing the cry, didn’t see anything because they were under the balcony like the girls. After the star had passed, we went over by the girls and prayed as we accompanied them to the church where the ecstasy ended at the entranceway. Immediately we asked them:

‘Why did you scream?’

‘Because we saw the Virgin throw down a star.’

‘But you couldn’t have seen the star since you were under the balcony!’

‘Well we certainly saw it. It was the Virgin who did it.’

“Of this phenomenon, Father Valentin said in his notes: ‘We were in the plaza.Conchita and Loli let out fearful shouts. Everyone was frightened. Some of the people looked at the girls; others looked at the sky. Those who did the latter said they saw a brilliant star that crossed from one part of the sky to another, and that it could not in any way be mistaken for a shooting star or comet. After having shouted out, the girls laughed and went happily on their way as if dancing with joy.’”

Another phenomenon occurred in the firmament on July 25, 1961. Here is the account taken from SWIH: “July 25 [is] a great day in Spain when it celebrates the feast of its patron, Saint James the Apostle. ‘On that day,’ said [Police Chief] Juan Alvarez Seco, ‘I had stationed two guards in the calleja, and two more in front of Conchita’s house. The four visionaries were playing in a field nearby on a beautiful afternoon without a cloud in the sky. Suddenly, toward 7:30, over the Pena Sagra [see picture at beginning of article], a very dark cloud appeared out of which a tremendous bolt of lightening struck down. The girls fell on their knees extremely fearful. The thunder which followed shook us all. But the girls remained there with a look of ecstasy on their faces. I remember Mari Cruz’s mother was screaming and I had to calm her down. For several minutes all was quiet. Afterwards, someone said to me very seriously, but without giving it much importance, that he had seen above the cloud, one or two figures dressed like the Holy Father.’”

Our last case of celestial phenomena during the time of the events to be included here occurred during the evening of June 18, 1965, shortly before Saint Michael appeared to Conchita with the second message of Our Lady. This excerpt is taken from l’Etoile Dans la Montagne:

“Almost everyone was praying in a loud voice, in two choruses, the French and the Spanish alternating. What an extraordinary night! There was an unprecedented luminosity with innumerable stars shining as never before, even without a moon. Suddenly everyone looked up. From the northwest, a new star shot up, brighter than the others. It traced a great circle and returned to its starting point. Two minutes later, another star, splendid but smaller than the first, appeared straight above Conchita’s house, advanced slowly in the sky and suddenly disappeared above the Pines. Everyone was talking with the person next to him about these extraordinary phenomena when at the bottom of the lane, in the light of the starry night and the flashlights, Conchita appeared, protected by a squad of police guards.”

Our last example of phenomena in the sky occurred several years after the close of the events on October 11, 1976, feast of Our Lady del Pilar. Maria Villaneuva Diaz from Santander gives her testimony of her experience: “That day many people had congregated at the Pines in Garabandal to pray the holy rosary. A large part of the group consisted of two hundred girls from a school in Gijon who were to be consecrated by their teacher to the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Garabandal, under the pine tree where Our Lady appeared so many times.

“During the consecration a strong wind began to blow and the sky became almost black; it was very impressive. To avoid being blown around by the wind, we sat down on the ground as best we could. My back was to the village. When the consecration of the girls ended the wind stopped. I remained seated, and for some reason, I turned around to look at the sky above the village. What I saw cannot adequately be described. The most beautiful rainbow you could ever imagine arched out from the church over the village. Its colors were stronger than in any other rainbow I had ever seen. I pointed it out to my sister who was seated some distance away and when she saw it she sprang to her feet. Then everyone stood up to contemplate that beauty. No one could figure out the meaning of it, but we all knew it was not a normal rainbow.

“After remaining for some time praying and thanking God for such a gift, my sister looked at me and asked if I had seen anything else. I told her I only saw what she and everyone else did – a heavenly marvel. But she insisted, ‘No, you can’t fool me; you saw something else.’

‘Why are you saying that?’

‘Because the rainbow is burned into your sunglasses.’

“We called two bystanders, Manolo del Corte and Manolita Fernandez, who corroborated that the rainbow indeed was imprinted on the sunglasses; and also that on the right lens the rainbow appeared lower than on the left side. This could be explained by the fact that my head was tilted when I was looking at the rainbow.

“Then I said to my sister, ‘The intensity of the light and brilliance of the colors must have remained on the retinas of your eyes.’ It was not like that. Today, more than two years later, the rainbow is still on both lenses of my sunglasses, the intense colors engraved as though by fire just as on that unforgettable day.

“Sometimes the glasses give off a smell of roses and pine mixed together, and there are days when the colors are more intense than at other times. Twice I have taken them back to Garabandal and they have emitted splendid rays. Some people, on seeing them, have knelt with tears in their eyes, because they see that Garabandal is a chosen place of our Blessed Mother. I write all this in obedience and at the request of the Jesuit priest, Father Francis A. Benac.”

Written by Maria Encarnacion Villanueva Diaz

Santander, Spain February 8, 1979.  

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Reprinted with kind permission from GARABANDAL JOURNAL March-April 2009

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Another Prophecy Fulfilled?

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"A bishop will come along who will not believe at first, but will receive a sign and allow priests to go up to Garabandal for the Miracle."

 — Conchita in a 1962 letter to Fr. Jose Ramon Garcia de la Riva

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Reprinted with kind permission from GARABANDAL JOURNAL July-August 2008

Written by Barry Hanratty

Has this prophecy been fulfilled or is it still pending? When Conchita wrote her letter to Father de la Riva, there were restrictions in force on priests going to Garabandal and for them to make the climb up to the village they needed special permission from the Santander chancery. But that changed in the 1980s and presently there are no restrictions. So, if the fulfillment of this prophecy is still to come, it will require that restrictions be reimposed (by the sitting bishop) and then again lifted (after he receives his sign) shortly before the Miracle. Without discounting this possi bility, we are inclined to believe that the prophecy has already been fulfilled.

In his Memoirs, Father de la Riva gives his eyewitness account of a night in August of 1961 when members of the Commission appointed by Bishop Doroteo Fernandez, Apostolic Administrator of Santander at the time, were in the village church of Garabandal while the visionaries were there in ecstasy. At one point, one of the priests of the Commission went up to the sanctuary, and standing right by the girls in ecstasy, turned facing the people present and said: "Whatever happens, I don't believe in this." Out of respect, Father de la Riva did not mention his name in the published editions of his Memoirs, but since this priest's identification is important to our story, and since he has gone on to his eternal reward, we will mention it here. That priest, then a canon of the cathedral in Santander, was the future Bishop of Santander, Juan Antonio del Val Gallo.

Bishop del Val (+ November 13, 2002) reigned from 1971-1991, and when he took over the diocese, he clearly did not believe in Garabandal although he had a much more open attitude toward the events than his two immediate predeces sors, Bishops Puchol and Cirarda. But throughout the 1970s, nothing changed regarding Garabandal and Bishop del Val said he was in communion with his predecessors, and the former restrictions remained in force.

In 1982, Bishop del Val was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent an operation in Santander performed by Dr. Andres Garcia de Tunon, a believer in Garabandal (it seems the Bishop could never get away from Garabandalistas). While he was recuperating in the hospital, he received a visit from Mari Loli, one of the visionaries of Garabandal, who had been driven there in the car of a French priest, Father de Baillencourt and his secretary, Christina Bocabeille.

Loli was alone when she entered the Bishop's room and during her visit she asked him if he had anything kissed by the Blessed Virgin at Garabandal. When he said no, Loli gave him her last crucifix. The ever cautious Bishop responded: "I'll take it because it comes from you." (Loli was on cordial terms with the Bishop.)

After the hospital visit, Loli returned to San Sebastian de Garabandal where she was visiting (at the time she lived in Massachusetts with her husband and family) and her mother told her she had found another crucifix kissed by Our Lady at Garabandal. Was that all there was to Loli's visit to the Bishop in the hospital?

A Big Change

In 1983, Dr. Luis Morales, chief medical examiner of the 1961 Commission, who by then had had his own conversion to belief in Garabandal, gave a lecture to an overflow crowd in the Ateneo, Santander's largest conference hall, in which he placed Garabandal on the same footing as Lourdes and Fatima. This was big news and made headlines in the local papers. And not to be overlooked was the fact that Dr. Morales could not have given his lecture without the permission of Bishop del Val. Placido Ruiloba of Santander, a great witness to the Garabandal events, told me that there had been nine meetings leading up to the Dr. Morales lecture and in those meetings were three people: the doctor, Placido and Bishop del Val. So what made the former unbelieving Bishop permit Morales to give his lecture and testimony in favor of Garabandal?

On the day after Dr. Morales' lecture, many of us who attended went up to Garabandal. I was seated for lunch in the Meson Serafin, at a table with Dr. Tunon, who had operated on Bishop del Val the year before, and his wife who spoke English. She told me that before the Bishop went into the hospital they did not think he believed in Garabandal, but when he came out he was completely changed.

When I got back to New York, I attended Conchita's holy hour which she held each week at her old address in Queens, New York. After the prayers, those present asked me to give an account of all that transpired in Santander with the Dr. Morales lecture. Normally in those situations, Conchita doesn't pay much attention, but this time she was listening carefully as I related all that happened and what I had learned including Loli's visit to Bishop del Val in the hospital and her giving him the crucifix. When I said goodbye to Conchita, she responded not with her usual hasta luego, but by saying "thank you."

Did the Bishop now believe in Garabandal? Did he receive his sign in the hos pital? Did it have to do with Loli's visit? Did Conchita know what the sign would be? We can't answer those questions, but perhaps one day, if Bishop del Val left something in writing, we will know more.

But if the Bishop now believed (in my notes of February 13, 1984, I jotted down this entry: Conchita is convinced that Bishop del Val now believes in Garabandal), what about the prophecy being fulfilled?

In 1987, Bishop del Val officially lifted restrictions on priests going up to Garabandal and gave the pastor of Garabandal at the time, Father Juan Gonzalez Gomez, authority to allow visiting priests to celebrate Mass in the village church.

As previously mentioned, Bishop del Val was a cautious man, but did he ever actually say he believed. Well, yes he did. Earlier this year, our friend Ed Kelly spent several weeks in the Santander region with his home base being San Sebastian de Garabandal. As a former Spanish teacher, Ed is fluent in the language and over the years beginning in 1971, has spoken to and interviewed people connected in some way to Garabandal. While he was staying in the village during his most recent visit, he came across Dr. Tunon who owns a house in Garabandal and was up there cutting the grass when Ed met him. Here's what Dr. Tunon told him. After having completed the operation on the Bishop in 1982, he went to see him in his hospital room during the recovery period. "I was sitting on the edge of the bed when he said to me, 'I, Juan Antonio del Val Gallo, believe in Garabandal. But as bishop I can't say that.'" Yes, he was a cautious man. 

Reprinted with kind permission from GARABANDAL JOURNAL, July-August 2008   

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More from the "Night of Screams"

page from the Apocalypse

What could the girls have seen to break out like this with the shrill shrieks and screams that terrified everyone?

María Herrero de Gallardo, in Garabandal several months later, spoke with Loli on Sunday, October 7th, the feast of the Holy Rosary. She questioned Loli, among other things, about what the girls had seen during the feast of Corpus Christi:

«Oh!»—exclaimed the girl—«That was horrible to see. We were really frightened. And I know no words that will explain it.»

We saw rivers change into blood . . . Fire fell down from the sky. . . And something much worse still, which I’m not able to reveal now.

The message that we gave at the time said that we don’t expect the Chastisement, but that, without expecting it, it will come . . .

The Virgin asked everyone to confess and receive Communion.»

The girl did not say many words; what her few words said was enough.

In 1970 Fernando Corteville wrote in issue N°31 of the L’Impartial about the messages of the 19th and 23rd of June, 1962 — up to then unpublished — that Mari Loli had verified and presented to Mrs. Saraco.(13) Three years previously, these messages had been given to Father Morelos.(14) The girls had received them when they had seen visions of the Chastisement.

According to the text that Mrs. Saraco had in her possession (signed by the visionary), Loli said this to Father Morelos:

In spite of seeing the Virgin, (during the ‘night of
screams’) we began to see a great multitude of people
who were suffering intensely, and screaming with tremendous
fear . . .

The Most Holy Virgin explained to us that
this great tribulation — which was not the Chastisement
— would come because a time would arrive
when the Church would give the impression
of being on the point of perishing . . . It would
pass through a terrible test. We asked the Virgin
what this great test was called and she told us that
it was Communism.

Then she showed us how the great Chastisement
for all mankind would come, and that it would come
directly from God . . .

There will come a time when all motors and
machines will stop; a terrible wave of heat will
strike the earth and men will begin to feel a great
thirst. In desperation they will seek water, but this
will evaporate from the heat . . . Then almost
everyone will despair and they will seek to kill one
another . . . But they will lose their strength and
fall to the earth. Then it will be understood that it
is God alone Who has permitted this.

Then we saw a crowd in the midst of flames.
The people ran to hurl themselves into the lakes and
seas. But the water seemed to boil and in place of
putting out the flames, it seemed to enkindle them
even more.

It was so horrible that I asked the Most Holy
Virgin to take all the young children with her(15)
before all this happened. But the Virgin told us that
when it would come, they would all be adults . . .

Loli’s words could be compared to those written in the Apocalypse (16: 8-12) about the effects that would result from the pouring out of the fourth, fifth and sixth chalices . . .

This is startling, shocking. It should make every person reflect on his salvation. But I am afraid for many . . . The charismatics of optimism do not see more in the actual situation of the Church today, in its convulsions, than a crisis of growth. They detect with certainty (I don’t know by what signs) the coming of a new springtime. And they regard everything that has just been mentioned as an erroneous prophecy. An erroneous prophecy from outdated medieval prophets
of doom.

The true prophets were sent to communicate to the people of God, time and time again, what it was necessary for them to know. And it cannot be denied that we have needed — more than once — the sternest warnings and corrections.

The words of the prophecy itself distinguish the false from the true prophet . . . It is clear that the people of God do not like to hear certain matters, even though they are conducive to their salvation, and their guides like to hear them even less. It was the same in Israel in the days of Jeremiah the prophet. The insistence on reform by that prophet of doom did not please the Israelites; they preferred
instead the pleasant predictors of a prosperous future. But it is well known what then happened.

We can well imagine how the feast of Corpus Christi, the great feast of the Eucharist, was celebrated in Garabandal during that year of grace, 1962, after such a vigil and after such reception of the sacrament of Penance.

No one missed the solemn Mass and almost everyone received Communion. Later, during the procession of the Blessed Sacrament through the cleaned and garlanded streets of the village, there resounded the traditional hymns of homage to the hidden God in the Blessed Sacrament.

As if for the purpose of directing all attention toward the mysteries celebrated on that day, the visionaries did not present any spectacle.

«Mari Cruz went to the Cuadro»—Fr. Valentín wrote—«she went there in the natural state, and on arriving, knelt down and went into ecstasy; but she didn’t say anything . . . The other girls didn’t have an apparition.»

The following day, Friday, there was no apparition at all. But on the next day, Saturday, June 23rd, came the final statement from the nights of the screams; the second message from Loli and Jacinta(16) bears this date:

The Virgin has told us:

That the world continues the same, that it has
not changed at all;

That few will see God; so few they are, that it is
causing the Virgin great sorrow.

How unfortunate it is that the world does
not change!

The Virgin has told us that the Chastisement
is coming.

As the world is not changing, the cup is filling
up.

How sorrowful is the Virgin, although she does
not allow us to see it.

Since the Virgin loves us so much, she suffers
alone, since she is so good.

Everyone be good, so that the Virgin will be
happy!

She has told us that those who are good should
pray for those who are evil.

Yes, we should pray to God for the world, for
those who do not know Him.

Be good, be very good.

María Dolores Mazón, 13 years
Jacinta González, 13 years

13. Mrs. Carmela Saraco is a promoter of the cause of Garabandal in the U.S.A.

14. Father Gustavo Morelos, a Mexican, played a great part in the pro-Garabandal movement following the events. He came to Spain toward the end of 1964, with the proper authorization of his ecclesiastical superiors, as he himself stated in writing in 1965, to study the apparitions of the Most Holy Virgin in the in the village of San Sebastián de Garabandal.

First he collected all the information of a negative type that the Commission at Santander could give him, with a result that could be imagined. But later, on dealing directly with the visionaries and on hearing the eyewitnesses, he became convinced that what was occurring in Garabandal could not have any human explanation. Returning to my country, Mexico, I dedicated myself to informing our most excellent prelates . . . with the desire of making known — more than the "events" themselves — the "messages" that the four girls had transmitted to all mankind on behalf of their Vision.

For some time now, due to pressure by the upper ecclesiastical hierarchies (the passionate zeal with which the former bishop from Santander, Bishop Cirarda, attempted to finish with Garabandal between 1968 and 1971 should not be forgotten), he has come to keep silence.

As a tabulation of the actors, the fact can be pointed out here that there was an unusual procession of prelates in the Santander diocese from the beginning of the events of Garabandal. There were six bishops in the first 11 years. They
were the following:

Doroteo Fernández Fernández: initially auxiliary bishop with Monsignor Eguino Trecu and afterwards, apostolic administrator; transferred in 1962 to Badajoz.

Eugenio Beitia Aldazábal: in 1962 took possession of the diocese as the titular bishop of Santander; not much later, for reasons not sufficiently known, he presented his resignation. This was accepted, although he continued for some time at the head of the bishopric as the apostolic administrator.

Vicente Puchol Montis: entered into Santander as a new bishop in 1965; he came with great hopes: he was rather young and had recently been promoted. On May 8th of 1967, he died tragically in an automobile accident.

Enrique de Cabo: elected vicar head on the death of Bishop Puchol; he was at the head of the diocese a little more than a year. Not long after finishing his service, he died suddenly.

José María Cirarda: came in the summer of 1968 to Santander as the new bishop; much was expected from him also. In December of 1971 he went to the diocese of Córdoba.

Juan Antonio del Val Gallo: in the winter of 1972, he took possession of the diocese of Santander, to which diocese he belonged and to which he was then returning after a short reign as auxiliary bishop to the archbishop of Seville.

With regard to Garabandal, although these bishops have officially upheld the negative position of the Commission, only two have fought openly against it: Bishop Puchol, who thought he had finished with Garabandal; and Bishop Cirarda, who tried to finish it with all his might . . .

I do not question their good intentions; undoubtedly they thought that they were doing God a good service.

15. It might be noted that Loli had little brothers at that time.
16. The reader can notice that Conchita was not taking a significant part in the important events occurring in Garabandal on the feast of Corpus Christi.

"The Night of Screams" excerpted from the book "She Went in Haste to the Mountain"

“A horrible thing was going to happen.”

The Virgin told us:(10)

That we do not expect the Chastisement;

That without expecting it, it will come;

Since the world has not changed.

And she has already told us twice;

And we do not pay attention to her,

Since the world is getting worse.

And it should change very much.

And it has not changed at all.

Prepare yourself. Confess,

Because the Chastisement will come soon.

And the world continues the same . . .

I tell you this:

That the world continues the same.

How unfortunate that it does not change!

Maria Dolores Image by garabandal archives via Flickr

Soon will come a very great Chastisement,

If it does not change.

Jacinta Image by garabandal archives via Flickr

María Dolores Mazón
Jacinta González

This is the message faithfully reproduced; the only thing I have added is the punctuation and the distribution into lines to make it easier to understand. (the girls wrote all these things one right after the other without a single comma or period.)

With their poor capacity for expression, they sought with this repetition of ideas to inculcate forcefully the few basic things that they had heard and seen (and in what a way!) in the course of the apparition:

—That the Chastisement (I write this with a capital so that no one will interpret it to be an ordinary chastisement) announced in the first message of October 18th was inexorably going to come. The reason for this is that only penitential reform could save us from it, and instead of this, what is happening in the world today is a rapid progression down the road of filthiest deviations.

—That only those who prepare themselves by a sincere return to God, together with constant prayer and watching, will be able to face the terrible test(11) in the proper state.

On the night after the girls’ terrifying screams, tears, and broken, incoherent speech, Garabandal could not sleep tranquilly. But the next day was even worse.

Early in the morning arrived Fr. Félix Larazábal, the superior of the Franciscans of San Pantaleón de Aras (Santander), summoned by Fr. Valentín to perform services for Corpus Christi in the village. A little after his arrival, he went to Conchita’s house; but he found no one there.

Image via Wikipedia

«We were accompanying»—said the sister-inlaw of Dr. Ortiz—«Conchita at the Pines, where she was waiting to receive Communion from the Angel. We were praying and waiting; the time was dragging on. In the meantime her mother went to the edge of the hill and saw in front of her house someone who appeared to be a friar or a priest.

—He seems to be wearing a white cord . . .

Hearing this, Conchita hurried to descend and we followed her. Actually he was a Franciscan father; he celebrated Mass and gave Communion to us. Conchita’s mother commented:

—That’s the reason that we’ve waited so long up above! Whenever there’s a priest to give Communion, she doesn’t receive it from the Angel.»

________

In the evening some devout persons made confessions at the time of the rosary. The majority of the people were working in the fields, which required a lot of labor at that time of the year, especially since the next day was a feastday on which they could not work.

As the evening shadows fell on the village, almost everyone was awaiting what might happen, since all had been startled by what had occurred on the
previous night.

«At 1 o’clock at night»—states Eloísa de la Roza Velarde—«I went to Mari Cruz’s house to pick up a rosary that I had left, and on the way I heard that the others were already in the Calleja. I returned immediately to search for my daughter, but I didn’t find her. Then I hurried to the Calleja, and there she was with
Maximina (in whose house we were staying) and many other people, among whom was Fr. Félix Larrazábal.»

________

We know from Fr. Valentín, who wrote down what they said, that the girls . . .

«. . . went to the Cuadro as on the previous day, toward 10:30 at night. They said they had seen the Angel who told them that the Virgin would come later, but that the people should stay at a distance . . . that no one should pass beyond the last house in the village. And so everyone did this; but it seems that a Franciscan father—who was surely the only priest present—showed the intent of going to where the girls were. Ceferino blocked his way, saying: Here we are all equal. Afterward, it appears that the girls were heard to cry very hard . . .»

Image by garabandal archives via Flickr

_______

What Fr. Valentín refers to here as being heard, is well confirmed by the personal experience of Eloísa de la Roza:

«The girls let out terrifying screams . . . And they said, Wait! Wait! . . . Everyone should confess! Oh! Oh!

The people began to pray and to ask pardon publicly . . .

The priest, who was very excited, prayed in a loud voice, and we all followed him. When he stopped a moment, the girls cried and screamed again in a very anguished manner. They calmed down again when the prayer restarted.(12)

On returning to normality (Father Valentín’s notes say that this remarkable apparition ended at about 2 in the morning), the girls said that they would stay there all night in prayer.

—And us? the spectators asked.

—As you wish.

I don’t think anyone moved; we prayed with them (Father Valentín said that they prayed many rosaries) until six in the morning.

Image via Wikipedia

At that time (there was a beautiful sunrise), Father Larrazábal went toward the church, followed by all the people. And he began a series of confessions. The whole village confessed; and it appears that they were confessions of truly exceptional sincerity and repentance.»

How could it have been otherwise, after such preparation, both personal and communal, at the Calleja? The pure love of God will always be of the greatest value and the greatest measure of every spiritual life. But the holy fear of God should not be neglected, which from ancient times has been shown to be the beginning of wisdom. (Eccl. 1:16)

The holy fear of God was experienced as never before by the men and women of Garabandal on the two ‘nights of the screams’. Months later, the memory of it was still vivid. On September 24th, María Herrero de Gallardo wrote from Santander to her sister, Menchu:

«I spent a long time speaking alone with Jacinta’s mother, and she told me that the night before Corpus Christi had been terrifying . . . The girls ran to the Cuadro. Afterwards they advised the people that they should approach no further than a certain distance, that they shouldn’t go beyond a place in the road from which the girls couldn’t be seen.

Jacinta’s mother told me that she heard them cry with such voices and such horror that she wanted to run toward her daughter to see what was happening; but the people held her back. When the vision ended, the girls came to the place
where the people were, and the people saw that the girls were covered with tears. The girls requested the whole village to confess and receive Communion, as a horrible thing was going happen. María (the mother of Jacinta) experienced such fright that she couldn’

Image by garabandal archives via Flickr

t sleep.»

_______

Six years later, Pepe Díez, the village stonemason, spoke to a married couple from Asturias in words similar to these that I overheard:

Look, I don’t want to brag, but I’m a man, it might be said, who doesn’t know fear. I go out to all parts of the village, and over the distant trails in the night just like in the day. I have never been afraid. But on those nights of the screams, with everyone together in the darkness, in silence, hearing the girls’ sobbing and screeching in the distance, I shook so that my knees knocked against each other so much I couldn’t stop them.

You can’t imagine what that was. I have never experienced anything like it.

______

10. It is difficult to determine if it was the Virgin who personally presented all these things to them, or if it was done by the Archangel.

11. The punishments of God in this world never have the exclusive reason of getting even vindictively. They always come impregnated with mercy, offering an occasion for each one to satisfy for himself and for others by willingly accepting
the hardships that come.

12. This scene at Garabandal during these latest times of the world (1 John 2:18) can be compared with the scene of Exodus (17:8-12), when the story of salvation was almost beginning:

The Amalecites came and attacked Israel at Refedim . . . Joshua did as Moses told
him and marched out to engage Amalec.
Meanwhile, Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. As long as Moses
kept his arms raised, Israel had the advantage; when he let his arms fall, the advantage went to Amalec.
A telling lesson on how our prayer is able to overcome in the face of all types of situations!

Another Powerful Post by Mark Mallett: The Wrath of God

Remember that Conchita said the Warning will be like a mini-chastisement, a purification, a correction of the conscience of the world. Mark describes it well here:

Deacon John

The Wrath of God

First published March 23rd, 2007.

AS I prayed this morning, I sensed the Lord offering a tremendous gift to this generation: complete absolution.

If this generation would just turn to me, I would overlook all her sins, even those of abortion, cloning, pornography and materialism. I would wipe away their sins as far as the east is from the west, if only this generation would turn back to me…

God is offering the very depths of His Mercy to us. It is because, I believe, we are on the threshold of His Justice. 

In my travels across the United States, words have been growing in my heart during the past few weeks:  The wrath of God. (Because of the urgency and at times difficulty people have in understanding this subject, my reflections today are slightly longer. I want to be faithful not only to the meaning of these words, but also to their context.) Our modern, tolerant, politically correct culture detests such words… "an Old Testament concept," we like to say. Yes, it is true, God is slow to anger and rich in mercy. But that’s exactly the point. He is slow to anger, but eventually He can and does become angry. The reason is that Justice demands it.
 

MADE IN HIS IMAGE

Our understanding of anger is generally flawed. We tend to think of it as an eruption of temper or rage, tending to emotional or physical violence. And even when we see it in its justified forms it makes us somewhat fearful. Nevertheless, we do admit that there is room for just anger: when we see an injustice committed, we too become angry. Why then do we permit ourselves to feel justly angry, and yet do not permit this of God in whose image we are created?

God’s response is one of patience, one of mercy, one that willingly overlooks the sin so as to embrace and heal the sinner. If he does not repent, does not accept this gift, then the Father must discipline this child. This too is an act of love. What good surgeon allows the cancer to grow so as to spare the patient the knife?

He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him takes care to chastise him. (Proverbs 13:24) 

For whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges.  (Hebrews 12:6)

How does He discipline us? 

Endure your trials as "discipline" (v.7)

Ultimately, if these trials fail to correct our destructive behavior, God’s anger is aroused and He permits us to receive the just wages our free will has demanded: the justice or wrath of God. 

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

  

THE WRATH OF GOD

There is no such thing as the "God of the Old Testament" (ie. the God of wrath), and the "God of the New Testament" (the God of Love.) As St. Paul tells us,

Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

Jesus, who is both God and man, has not changed. He is the one given the authority to judge mankind (John 5:27). He continues to exercise mercy and justice. And this is His judgment:

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him. (John 3:36)

Jesus has freely taken the punishment for sin that is due us. Our free response is to accept this gift by confessing our sin, repenting of it, and obeying His commandments. That is, one cannot say He believes in Jesus if His life is lived in opposition to Him. To reject this gift is to remain under the judgment pronounced in Eden:separation from Paradise. This is the wrath of God.

But there is also that wrath which is to come, that divine judgment which will cleanse a particular generation of evil and bind Satan in hell for a "thousand years." 

OF THIS GENERATION

This generation is not only rejecting Christ, it is committing the most heinous sins with perhaps an unparalleled defiance and arrogance. We in the former Christian nations and beyond have heard the law of Christ, yet are abandoning it in an apostasy that is unprecedented in scope and in numbers of apostates. Repeated warnings through the forces of nature do not appear to be moving our nations toward repentance. So tears of blood are falling from Heaven on numerous icons and statues—a terrible harbinger of the Great Trial which lies before us.

When my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, lo it shall come down in judgment… (Isaiah 34:5) 

Already, God has begun to purify the earth of wickedness. The sword has fallen through mysterious and incurable diseases, terrible disasters, and war. Often it is a spiritual principle at work:

Make no mistake: God is not mocked, for a person will reap only what he sows… (Gal 6)

The cleansing of the earth has begun. But we must understand that just as in ordinary times, when the innocent are sometimes taken with the wicked, so too will it be during the period of purification. No one but God can judge souls and no human being has the supreme wisdom to understand why this or that person suffers or dies. Until the end of the world the just and the unjust alike shall suffer and die. Yet the innocent (and the repentant) will not be lost and their reward will be great in paradise.

The wrath of God is indeed being revealed from heaven against every impiety and wickedness of those who suppress the truth by their wickedness. (Romans 1:18)

THE ERA OF PEACE

As I have written in The Coming Era of Peace, a time is approaching when the earth will be cleansed of all evil and the earth rejuvenated for a period which Scripture refers to, symbolically, as "a thousand years of peace." Last year when I traveled through the United States on a concert tour, the Lord began to open my eyes regarding the corruption which has penetrated every layer of society. I began to see how our economy has been destroyed by materialism and greed… "This must come down" I felt the Lord saying. I began to see how our food industry has been destroyed by chemicals and processing… "This too must begin again." Political structures, technological advances, even architectural structures—there was suddenly a word about each of them:  "These will no longer be…"  Yes, there was a definite sense that the Lord is preparing to cleanse the earth. I have meditated upon and sifted these words for a year, and only publish them now under my spiritual director’s guidance.

They speak, it seems, of a new era. The early Church Fathers believed and taught this:

So, the blessing foretold undoubtedly refers to the time of His Kingdom, when the just will rule on rising from the dead; when creation, reborn and freed from bondage, will yield an abundance of foods of all kinds from the heaven’s dew and the fertility of the earth, just as the seniors recall. Those who saw John, the Lord’s disciple , [tell us] that they heard from him how the Lord taught and spoke about these times… —St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Church Father (140–202 A.D.); Adversus Haereses, Irenaeus of Lyons, V.33.3.4, The Fathers of the Church, CIMA Publishing Co.; (St. Irenaeus was a student of St. Polycarp, who knew and learned from the Apostle John and was later consecrated bishop of Smyrna by John.)

St. Justin Martyr wrote:

I and every other orthodox Christian feel certain that there will be a resurrection of the flesh followed by a thousand years in a rebuilt, embellished, and enlarged city of Jerusalem, as was announced by the Prophets Ezekiel, Isaias and others… A man among us named John, one of Christ’s Apostles, received and foretold that the followers of Christ would dwell in Jerusalem for a thousand years, and that afterwards the universal and, in short, everlasting resurrection and judgment would take place. —St. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Ch. 81, The Fathers of the Church, Christian Heritage

The wrath of God, then, will also be an act of love—an act of mercy to preserve those who believe and obey Him; an act of compassion to heal creation; and an act of Justice to establish and declare the sovereignty of Jesus Christ, Name above all names, King of kings, and Lord of lords, until Christ finally puts all enemies beneath His feet, the last being death itself.

If such a day and era is close, it explains the heavenly tears and pleadings of God’s Mother in her many apparitions during these times, sent to warn us and call us back to her Son. She who knows His Love and Mercy better than anyone, also knows that His Justice must come. She knows that when He comes to put an end to evil, He is acting, ultimately, with divine Mercy.
 

Give glory to the Lord, your God, before it grows dark; before your feet stumble on darkening mountains; before the light you look for turns to darkness, changes into black clouds. If you do not listen to this in your pride, I will weep in secret many tears; my eyes will run with tears for the Lord’s flock, led away to exile. (Jer 13:16-17) 

They cried out to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come and who can withstand it?  (Rev 6:16-17)

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PUBLISHED IN: DAILY JOURNAL, THE ERA OF PEACE | ON OCTOBER 22ND, 2009 | 2 COMMENTS »