Letter #123, 2023, Saturday, September 2: Letter from Garabandal
I write this letter to bear witness to three things I have seen and heard:
-- five centuries of the Rosary in Garabandal;
-- the profound silence of The Pines which have grown up above the village;
--
the remembrance and sharing of kisses given by the Virgin to four girls
60 years ago, which continues to be shared even today.
***
The rosary of centuries
In
the small church in the middle of the Spanish village of Garabandal, a
rosary has been recited every evening for the past 500 years.
(The rosary is a Catholic prayer which focuses attention on the coming into the world of the Logos,
the Word of God, Jesus Christ. In five joyful mysteries, the birth of
Christ to the Virgin Mary is recalled; in five sorrowful mysteries, the
passion and death of Christ is recalled; in five glorious mysteries, the
resurrection of Christ, his triumph over death itself, is recalled.)
In
the rosary, 10 Hail Marys are prayed with each mystery, totaling 150
Hail Marys for the 15 traditional mysteries; this is the same number as
that of the Psalms of King David, which number 150. Three other Hail
Marys are prayed at the beginning of each Rosary, for faith, hope and
love. So the total of the Hail Marys is 153, which is the same number as
the number of fish caught by the disciples in the Sea of Galilee after
Christ's resurrection, when they had fished all night and caught
nothing, but then cast their nets on the other side of their fishing
boat, and caught 153 fish, which John says were poured out on the beach,
and counted. Many Church Fathers later interpreted this number as
symbolic of all the species of fish, but also symbolic of the number of
all the nations in the world, which would be drawn into the nets of the
evangelists by the preaching of the disciples in the centuries up until
today.
***
A century of the pine grove
Above the village of Garabandal, there is a grove of pine trees.
The
tress were planted from seeds given to children making their first
communions in the 1920s. So the trees are now 100 years old.
This is a place of profound peace.
It
is said that a miracle will someday occur in this place, a miracle
which will be visible to the entire world, which will leave a permanent
sign until the end of time.
***
The kiss of the Virgin
Each
time the four girls of Garabandal saw the Virgin, and spoke with her,
she spoke with them as a mother speaks to her children.
She was familiar, gentle, encouraging, loving.
And each time she left them, the children said, she kissed them, to show her love for them.
So, at the center of the Garabandal apparitions was the Virgin's maternal kiss.
The love of a mother for her children.
***
I
spoke briefly today with Jacinta, and with her husband, Jeffrey, who
has my same name, Moynihan, and whose father was named Dr. Robert
Moynihan.
She
showed me a crucifix that she has kept for more than 60 years. She told
me that the Virgin had kissed the crucifix when she had held it up to
her.
She held out the crucifix to me, so that I too might kiss it.
In
this way, the maternal kiss of the Virgin of Garabandal was shared also
with me; in this letter, it is my hope that such a kiss may also be
shared with each of you.
