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/



Read more here: http://garabandalnews.overblog.com/2015/03/garabandal-and-the-double-threat.html

She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 66)

“The Virgin’s voice has been heard on a tape recorder.”

Our Lady’s Voice

The following day, when coming down from the pastures, my mother and I met my Aunt Maximina González, who was very excited and told us,
Do you know that the Virgin’s voice has been heard on a tape recorder?
And I asked her, What did she say?
And she . . .

We have additional details about this episode that Conchita mentions, and which she did not witness, since she had to go far away from the village to the pastures to gain with difficulty her daily bread. It should not be imagined that the life of the visionaries had been changed into a continual celebration of wonders, or that due to the ecstasies, they had been dispensed from all work and trouble. It was rather the contrary, and after many sleepless nights in vigils that could exhaust the strongest, they had to begin the new day very early during that summertime and had to work like all the other village girls.

Conchita is alluding to the following:

On that August day, Mari Loli and Jacinta had another apparition in the morning at the Pines. They were presenting medals and rosaries to kiss as usual, oscillating back and forth and falling. Then on their knees they were carrying on a dialogue; in it Jacinta was heard to say: Conchita has already come. They’ve cut her braids in Santander. She’s very pretty and tanned from going to the beach.

When they came out of the ecstasy, they answered questions from the people around them. And one of the crowd, who had brought a tape recorder(9) let them hear some of the things recorded on the tape; among these were phrases that they themselves had spoken in ecstasy. The girls were amazed since they had never heard anything like this. The stranger explained how the recorder worked and made some demonstrations during which he handed them the microphone.

If you see the Virgin again, tell her to talk through here.
Soon the girls fell into ecstasy again. Mari Loli, whom the new ecstasy had surprised with the microphone in her hand, began to converse with the Virgin: A man has come with a thing that takes down everything—everything that is said. Why don’t you say something so that everyone can hear you, so that the people will believe? Go ahead, say something. Yes, talk. Say something. Not for us; so that the people believe.

Eventually the ecstasy ended. What the girls had said to the apparition was played back on the tape recorder for them to hear. And at the moment when they stopped telling her to speak, an ineffable voice was heard—the witnesses classified it most sweet—that said:

No, I will not speak.

Loli and Jacinta exclaimed together, Oh! That’s the voice of the Virgin!

Everyone was very excited. As Maximina said to Conchita, The people started to cry because they heard the voice of the Virgin. This was something exceptional. (10)
The owner of the tape recorder started shouting, I will send this to the Pope. The people naturally wanted to hear the marvelous voice again. And they played the tape for a second time, but at the proper time they heard nothing.

They came down from the Pines somewhat bewildered, talking of what had happened. They replayed the tape in Mari Cruz’ home.(11) And once again everyone could hear the mysterious voice. And again the girls said that the voice was the Virgin’s.
She was not heard after that. But the witnessesof that unique experience have not forgotten. All kept in their heart what one of them expressed while coming down from Garabandal, I will go to the grave with the conviction of having heard the Virgin’s voice.
This occurrence cannot be taken lightly since there are twelve signed witnesses to it.(12)

We would all be overjoyed to be able to hear the truly unique voice of Our Lady. But we must recognize that would be too much of a gift for our sinful ears which are so ordinarily open for voices and words opposed to those of the Virgin.

Now we should live with hope and a desire to give a spiritual resonance to the beautiful supplication that the liturgy teaches us to direct to the Virgin with words from the Canticle of Canticles.

Let your voice sound in my ears.
For your voice is sweet.
And your face ravishing.
(Canticles 2:14)

* * *


9. Police Chief Juan A. Seco also reported the episode with the tape recorder in his memoirs. And he said that it was Angel Domínguez Borreguero, director of the Psychiatric Hospital of Salamanca, who gave the microphone to the girls to record the Virgin’s voice. Gerardo Plaza, a professor at the University of Salamanca accompanied him. Both were vacationing in Llanes, Asturias.

10. I read the testimony of Gaudencio Cepeda Palacios from Torquemada (Palencia), Agustín Piney, from Santillana del Mar (Santander), Luis Toribio Millán, from Aguilar de Campoo (Palencia) and all agreed on the mysterious hearing of that unique voice, and that it was heard when the tape was finished, after a click signaled the end.

11. Sánchez-Ventura is the one who mentions Mari Cruz’ house. (Chapter 8, Page 112, Spanish version); but Father Ramón Andreu says in his report:
«They came down distraught to the house of Conchita, who had not taken part in the vision described, so that she could hear what her companions had said. When coming to the sentences mentioned, the voice was heard to say: No, I will not speak. Conchita smiled and said very happily that it was the Virgin who had spoken.»
The Father verified that the reference to this event was received from a witness there present. José Salceda from Aguilar de Campoo (Palencia), who was at the time chauffeur to the Fontaneda family.

She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 65)

“The girls fell on the ground in ecstasy.”

In the chapel would be new communications.(6)

Conchita Arrives

When I arrived at the village from my trip to Santander, several priests and many people came to meet me.
For Loli and Jacinta had said in their apparition that I was coming on the road, as I really was.
The Virgin had told this to them while they were in the church.
We have much more information on this than what Conchita writes so briefly.

When the three travelers arrived at Cossío, some young girls were awaiting them, among whom was the daughter of the school teacher at Garabandal. Aniceta, who had arrived upset and was becoming more uneasy after she saw them, kept asking, What do those girls want? What do they want? When they approached, she went nervously up to the school teacher’s daughter. Where are you coming from? Is there a fiesta in Garabandal?(7)
On arriving at the village, Aniceta said to the people who questioned her, I’m satisfied. There’s nothing to this. We’ve been to the Bishop. And there’s nothing to this. For the simple woman, the Bishop had to be absolutely infallible.
They went directly to their homes and shut themselves in; Aniceta was in no mood to talk to people or make explanations. But Maximina wanted to see what was going on and was able to witness some of the last scenes. She heard that Loli and Jacinta, during an ecstasy in the church, had asked the vision about Conchita, and then had said, Is she coming now? And minutes later, Oh, she’s in the house now. Maximina closely watched what was still going on during that memorable evening, and then went home.
When on that same night father Manuel Antón arrived at his residence in Barro (Llanes), he talked with Father Victor López, who had just returned from Santander.
—What! Asked Father Victor, Do you still believe in Garabandal?

—Now more than ever after what I’ve seen today.

—Well I personally have almost no belief. I’ve spoken with Bishop Doroteo(8) and he told me . . .
Naturally he related his interview with Conchita on that same day and what Odriozola and Piñal had said.
Garabandal was beginning to be marked by a great sign of contradiction. Whoever kills you, will think that he has done a service to God. (John 16:2)

6. From Fr. Valentín’s notes:
«When the affair at the Pines finished about 10:30, the girls said that they had to go pray at the church. There they were on their knees on the fist step of the altar about 10 minutes. They were asking for Conchita. And we overheard soon afterwards that she was in her home, that she had already come back.

They continued praying the rosary. When the ecstasy ended, I asked them why they hadn’t taken places on the carpet as I had told them. They answered that the Virgin had said to them, That was Father Valentín’s place, and for that reason they had taken a place on the side.

Mari Cruz had not gone to Mass that day. In the evening she didn’t see anything. This is the first time that this happened, although she had said on the previous night that she would have an apparition.»

7. Aniceta asked these pointed questions because she was annoyed that this group was waiting for her daughter. It seems that she had returned from Santander with the hope that everything would soon return to normal.

8. It was not remarkable that Father Victor would speak on familiar terms with the Apostolic Administrator. Bishop Doroteo Fernández, who came from the diocese of León and for years had close relationships with many priests in that city.

She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 64)

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

"But As Many As Received Him"

From the beginning Jesus Christ was a sign of contradiction among men. And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother: Behold this Child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be contradicted. And your own soul a sword shall pierce, that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed. (Luke 2: 34-35)
From this prophecy the great historical synthesis of the fourth Gospel can be better understood. The world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him . . . He filled with good things, commencing by opening to them the possibility of becoming sons of God. (John 1: 10-12)
The Virgin Mary is also a sign that shall be contradicted. Many save themselves and are saved in her. Many ruin themselves and are ruined through her. And always in a mysterious way, extremely difficult to understand.

Those who really seek her at Garabandal — in contrast to others who remain in suspicion and malevolence — she also fills with good things, through phenomena requiring great humility and simplicity of heart. Conchita's denials in Santander  caused no lessening in the favors of the Virgin Mother; and she even appeared to extend herself more than ever for her chosen village. And thus, on the same day in which Conchita denied the apparitions, on August 3rd . . .

The First Falls
from Grace

While the taxi of Fidelín Gómez was devouring the kilometers on National 634: Torrelavega, Cabezón de la Sol . . . bringing home the young girl together with her mother and aunt—unforgetable scenes were unfolding on the mountain heights at Garabandal.
A large crowd had gathered, and there were more guards than ever. Was trouble feared? No. It was simply that the Director General of Security( 1) had come up to the village on that day, not on an official visit, but like so many other people out of easily understandable curiosity; it was not every day that one could witness marvels so far beyond what men could stage.
Also touring the village, as we mentioned, was the parish priest from León, Father Manuel Antón. He gives us the following account:
«At nightfall, Loli and Jacinta left Ceferino's house where they had been playing upstairs. The whole crowd that was waiting in the plaza began to move. And I took great care to hold a place up close, hanging onto Loli by her coat, determined to remain near to her.

In front of us a lieutenant from the Civil Guard was walking without hurry, with his arms extended so that no one could get ahead of him. Thus he held back the girls who were following directly behind so that they could not go into the swift walk with which everyone was familiar, and which had already left the Director General and his wife far behind.
I didn't let go of Loli's coat until we came to the Pines. There the girls placed themselves in the center and the guards spread the people in a wide circle, as in a corro de aluche,(2) so that everyone could see better. Inside the corro — at the side of the girls — remained only Mr. Carlos, his wife and myself.
One of the girls started the rosary. Everyone was kneeling on the ground. And I remember that many young men had climbed onto the limbs of the pine trees, but I can testify that their attitude and manners did not detract in any way from the general atmosphere of profound reverence and respect.
After the third or fourth Hail Mary of the first mystery, the rosary dropped from the hands of the young girl leading the recitation. And as if with one voice the two spoke out Ah! in a whisper, going suddenly into the ecstatic position with which so many are acquainted. What began then was something whose beauty and feeling could not be put into words, even when giving the best possible description.
It was clearly seen that they were in animated conversation with someone. Continuing to look upwards, at times they would trace little circles, little crosses, and other signs and figures on the ground; there they put the articles prior to holding them up in their hands as if offering them to be kissed.
I could not catch what they were saying during all these activities, but I heard what they began saying later, Come down. Come down. And they held their arms as if desiring to receive something in them. To me it was evident that they were asking the Virgin to come down and hand them the Infant. They had such longing in their eyes and in their requests.
Seconds later, they gave the impression that they were holding in their arms what they so much desired, since they lowered their gaze and leaned gently toward something that seemed to pass from the arms of one to the arms of the other. Meanwhile they repeated, Oh how beautiful! How pretty! But how beautiful you are! I can testify that they said this in a way that would impress you; in their words and in their gaze they showed souls full of love and joy.
From their gestures I could follow the time of returning the infant to the mother, etc. Then I heard them: Don’t go! How long? Three quarters of an hour already? I hadn’t noticed the time; but nearby I saw a priest—later I learned that he was the priest from Aguilar(3) de Campoo— and showing me his watch he assured me that was the exact time that they had been in ecstasy, since he had taken care to look at the time when it had started.
The thing didn’t stop there. Later we had a second scene that thrilled us even more. As they told me later, it was the first time that something like this had happened: the girls fell on the ground in ecstasy; but with what gracefulness and what poise!
We were all very frightened, fearing that something serious might have happened. The mother of one of the girls(4)—I don’t know which one—came up to hold her daughter, crying with great distress. All excited, almost shouting, I began to say, Is there a doctor in the crowd who can help with this extraordinary affair? Is there anyone here?
Father Valentín, the parish priest, who was in the crowd, then interrupted the general worried silence, saying in a grave voice, This affair here has always been extraordinary. What is happening is that we are men of little faith. I admit that the ending impressed me; and after years I remember it as if I were hearing these things right now.
After a while, as if coming out of a wonderful sleep, the girls returned to themselves, and became again so natural, fresh, smiling.»(5)

__________

We can imagine the people’s feelings and comments as they came down from the Pines.
But the day still had not ended. In Garabandal during the early days, everything ended in the church before the Blessed Sacrament. It was a daily living of the ancient Catholic maxim: To Jesus through Mary.

1. Carlos Arias Navarro. This man had been governor of León in the 1940’s. There he met his wife, María Luz del Valle, daughter of Emilio del Valle.
In 1965 he left his position as Director of the Department of Security to become mayor of Madrid. Later he was Minister of the Republic, and finally President of the Republic (1974- 1976), the last president under Franco and the first under King Juan Carlos.
According to the testimony of the Chief of the Civil Guard, previously mentioned so often, Emilio del Valle was also in Garabandal on the date with his daughters. «Don Emilio’s daughters gave me several medals for me to give to María Dolores so that she could give them to the Virgin to kiss.»
2. The aluche is a sport played in León and Santander. The games are always played in the open air in fields or meadows. Spectators gather around in a big circle, leaving the center free for the competitors of the match — from this the popular name of corros for these competitions.
3. A city famous for pastry in the north of the province of Palencia on the left bank of the Pisuerga River.
4. From some notes written by Father Valentín concerning the 3rd of August:
«In the evening an ecstasy started about 9:00. Loli and Jacinta were praying the rosary; at the first Our Father, they went into ecstasy. They spoke with the angel, they sang the hymn to St. Michael . . .
Then a strange thing happened: the girls fell backwards. Jacinta’s mother held her up, and the Director General of Security held Loli. They were fallen down for about ten minutes. Later the girls asked who made them fall.»

5. «I remember something very unusual about this apparition: María Dolores (Loli) was found lying on the ground in ecstasy with her face upwards, speaking with the Virgin and the angel, and saying, If you don’t help me, I won’t be able to move. Soon after, I saw Loli hold out her arm as if to take the hand of someone who wanted to help her, and little by little, she was lifted up until she was in a sitting position.» (Juan A. Seco’s notes)

She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 63)

“I told him that I was not seeing the Virgin; but that others were,
it seemed to me. And that the message seemed to me to be true.”

A Sinister Design
Unfolds

At the end of eight days, a man intervened to take me (to the village) and my mother went to find me and have me come.
His name is Emilio del Valle Egocheaga. I will remember him all my life.
Actually it was Emilio del Valle(69) who intervened to repatriate her who could be considered in some respects as kidnapped in Santander(70) — although, as it appears, kidnapped much to her liking.
While in Puente Nansa Mr. Emilio had arranged for the taxi driver Fidelín Gómez to bring Aniceta and her sister Maximina to Santander.
When they showed themselves at the house of Father Luis González everyone was surprised by the unexpected visit.
—We have come to get you, the two women said to Conchita and the reaction was vivid.
—No, no! Conchita's eyes moistened. It was seen that things were going well there; and that the vacation, so novel for her, had conquered her.(71)

Father Luis and his sister Antonina reacted with evident opposition. They became very angry that they had come to get Conchita.

—No, no, I don't want to go, repeated Conchita; but almost immediately without further protest she went to collect her things.
Then Father Luis telephoned Doctor Piñal to tell him what was happening; the doctor answered that they should all come immediately to his home.

When they came there, the doctor employed all his repertoire of flattery, promises and threats to gain victory at the last moment.

I don't know how you can be so stupid, wanting to go back to the village. Here you would be a lucky girl. We would send you to a good college. You would be a señorita. All that is needed is for you to say that all that village affair isn't true, that you made it up yourself, that you were deceiving the people. If you persist in talking about apparitions, you will be disgraced. We will declare you crazy and lock you in a mad house. And your parents will go to jail.
To add force to his words, the eloquent doctor explained to the girl that this was not the first case, that there was another person who also said she had apparitions. She had been locked in an asylum for the insane.
The speech had its effect.(72) Conchita trembling, with her eyes wide and with tears in them, ended up saying, Do you know what I say? Perhaps for myself it isn't certain. But perhaps for the others, it is.
Then Father Luis the pastor stood up very pleased and gave the girl a few paternal taps on the shoulder while saying, Good, good, Conchita! Good, good, good.

Doctor Piñal immediately took advantage of the situation:
—Do you want to sign what you have just said?
—Very well, said Conchita and wrote her name on the paper that was put before her. Should I put down my last name too?
—Yes, that would be better.

Maximina González, who would not hesitate to swear the truth of what has just happened—and she is well aware of it, since she was present— would not go so far, however, as to affirm under oath that the paper on which Conchita signed her name was en blanco.(73) But she is almost sure of it. Aniceta affirms this without any hesitation. And she thinks she recalls, although on this she is not so sure, that the signature of the girl was in red ink.
The thing went well with regard to the wishes of the Commission, or at least of one of the commissioners. The Doctor Piñal—in a better mood— said to Conchita:
—Good, now that the thing is all settled, now that we know that all this is not true, tell us the message.

—No, I am not able to tell that.
They insisted with very forceful dialogue. The young girl finally found an escape.

—The fact of the matter is that although I would like to, I am not able to tell it to you, because I can't tell what I no longer remember.

The interview was very long; only the major parts are related here. From the house of Doctor Piñal they went to the bishop.
At the entrance Reverend Odriozola was waiting for them. First he took photographs of the girl next to the car; and then instructed them on how they should act in front of the bishop: to genuflect on one knee, to kiss the pastoral ring, etc.
Once they were in the palace, the moment arrived when a priest came to meet them. Odriozola said to Conchita:
—Do you know who this priest is?
—The Bishop.
That was who he actually was. After the greetings and introductions he ordered them to be seated; he adjusted his insignia and began the conversation, or rather the interrogation.
It seems that it did not last very long. In it was a special question:
—You, what do you prefer? To be a señorita, or to remain a shepherdess?
—To be a señorita.(74)
They talked about this and the Apostolic Administrator and Father Odriozola exchanged words and plans so that Conchita might study and receive a suitable education. Aniceta and Maximina left the palace happy and began the return voyage to the village, secure about the future. A good future! And her little girl was now out of danger. It would not take them long to find out their error.
The episodes of the last day at Santander Conchita summarizes in her diary like this:
On the day that they took me back to the village, I went to Doctor Piñal to tell him that I was going.And he became very angry and said to me . . . well, many things . . . in order that I would not go.
And I told him that I was not seeing the Virgin; but that the others were, it seemed to me.
And that the message seemed to me to be true.
And he told me to sign and I signed.
Afterwards he told me that I should go talk to Bishop Doroteo,(75) and I talked to him.
They all acted very nice to me, after all this.
We now find ourselves before one of the most important and decisive moments in the remarkable events of Garabandal.
A Commission which calls itself official (and we do not doubt of its character, although no one has yet seen the episcopal document relative to its nomination and attributes) has begun to act before a difficult situation with a style and manner of procedure which has to be classified at the least as very exceptional, if not strange.
The members of this Commission had gone at times, although only a very few times, to the location of the events. But they did this with a secretive attitude, without showing their faces, with a certain attitude as if ashamed, without putting themselves in the best places for observation and examination, without every proceeding to seriously interrogate the visionaries and the most qualified witnesses. As an example of this, they have never asked the parish priest for his opinion; they must have considered anything that he could say as of very little value to them with their degrees and doctorates.(76)
Many of those devoted to Garabandal have the impression that the Commission members, rather than bringing out into the open the possibility of the fact of an intervention from heaven, were searching for proofs against this possibility. They pried into everything that seemed to be a negative sign; and they approached in preference those who doubted or denied, looking for secretive and whispered testimony rather than open declarations. Because of this, the Commission's position was soon strongly anti. From this position they first proceeded with Conchita's sojourn in Santander and then with other things that will come out in this history. They have never occupied themselves in proceeding with a process according to the rules of authentic Canon Law.
The result of the experience at Santander, with the disappearance of Conchita's ecstasies and her ambiguous final denials, confirmed the Commission members in their attitude. In the future they would present these results as an argument that could not be rebutted, as an absolute judgment against Garabandal.(77)
And has the Commission — or rather some of its members — always acted in good faith? With a holy and genuine desire to clarify these things with the light of God? I do not wish to doubt this; but there are certain matters . . . Fr. Julio Porro Cardeñoso, Canon of Tarrangona, speaking about a letter from Conchita that did not get to the hands of Father Eugenio Beitia Aldazábal, bishop at the time, writes, "This will not be the first time that material on Garabandal has vanished. I could cite a definite fact which a member of the Commission had used for prevarication. Likewise, I could show the discordance of his statements with the most reliable testimony of the parish priest, written down in his diary." (The Mystery of Garabandal in Catholic Theology.)
Incalculable consequences have resulted from the position and procedures of the Santander Commission. It might be asked what course would the mystery of Garabandal have followed if it had encountered official investigators who were more responsible and more unbiased.

Perhaps we will know some day. Perhaps we will never know.

69. A man from León, very well-known in that city and province, a businessman with interests in the coal mines of Santa Lucía (León) where one of Conchita's brothers worked for a time.

Later Conchita stayed at León with this man's family.

70. All the expenses of the trip were paid by Mr. Emilio since at the time Aniceta had some financial problems. In order to be more presentable on the journey to Santander, she had to borrow one of Maximina's coats.

71. For those who cannot understand this, for those who are let down, who imagine that persons favored by God are immediately changed into souls completely above and beyond all weakness or deficiency, I would like to reproduce here the writing of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, an angelical saint if there ever was one.

She was speaking of the pleasant voyage that her father had given her to recover after a serious and painful illness:
"Then I began to know the world. Everything was joy and happiness around me. For two weeks I found nothing but flowers on the path of life. The Book of Wisdom is right in saying that the wandering of desire overturns the innocent mind. (4:12) I admit that this life attracted me." (Story of a Soul, Chapter 4)

72. Who would expect anything else? The simple village girl was before an important man from the magnificent city of Santander, so different from her Garabandal; a man who spoke with authority, who had the power to accomplish everything he said. What incalculable consequences would result for her and her friends from the attitude that she then adopted.

73. What an important document with what they would later write on this paper! One of the decisive proofs against Garabandal that are kept in the Archives of the Commission!
74. Here is something that shows the meaning of that answer from Conchita's tongue:
On returning to Garabandal, she was talking one day with Father Andreu who had heard something of what had happened in Santander. «In questioning her»—recounted the priest —«Whether it pleased the Virgin that she would be a señorita, she answered:
—And why shouldn't it please the Virgin that I learn?
—And how are you going to learn?
—Well, like the others!
—I don't understand this very well. What does it mean to you to be a señorita?
—To go to school.»
75. Bishop Doroteo Fernández was not bishop of Santander but Apostolic Administrator of the diocese, after the death of Bishop José Eguino Trecu.
76. Nothing written here is set down lightly. In the succeeding chapters the proofs of this will become apparent. I wish, however, to point out comments found in the French book L'Etoile dans la Montagne, published with the imprimatur of the bishop of Bruges on October 19, 1966, concerning the fourth «nota» of the chancery at Santander, which we will see further on. «The Commission, in four years, has never had the time to investigate in the required method, either the visionaries or the members of their families, or the parish priest. Inconceivable, the French say and all those who know the history of Lourdes and Fatima. Inconceivable, but unfortunately true.»

The Commission was satisfied to send emissaries, some of whom we have known, as is known the harm that they caused in this little village, abandoned to itself in the middle of events that were infinitely beyond it. A particular name might be mentioned, and we would be forced to admit that the main activity of the man with that name was to be a betrayer and a spy to Garabandal.
77. It is easy to judge the worth of denials so obtained, resulting from such procedures.
And every unprejudiced person can see that such denials do not make a convincing argument against the truth of facts seen by hundreds of witnesses. All that can be concluded is that Conchita in that difficult hour did not exactly act like a heroine.
And as for her responsibility, God alone knows.

She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 62)

“The strangest phenomenon resulted in her speech.”

Far Away From
There . . .

While this learned and inspired treatment was being carried out in Santander to cure Conchita of her visionary disease, far away in Garabandal the events continued their mysterious march.
On the day after the girl's departure,(60) three priests from the city of León came to the celebrated village: Fr. Manuel Antón, Fr. Victor López, and Fr. Geminiano García. The first was a parish priest from San Claudio (a modern church situated in the best section of León); the two others were well known for their teaching activities. The three had spent several days on vacation in the town of Barro on the beautiful coast of Llanes; there they received news of what was happening nearby and decided to go see what was going on.

They drove to Cossío and from there walked up to Garabandal. About a half hour past noon they arrived at the village and asking around, found the house of Ceferino. Father Manuel Antón, who told me these things, remembered perfectly that Ceferino was not home but at the billiard grounds, playing with other men the game of bolos of which they are such fans in the mountain villages. His wife, Julia, was cooking. Father Manuel had decided to inform himself thoroughly about what was happening there. Knowing that Ceferino's little girl Mari Loli was experiencing these things very frequently, he sought by all possible means to speak alone with her. He asked her father to permit her to come; but Ceferino, who was beginning to get annoyed by the questions, requests, and boldness of many visitors, neither paid him any attention nor stopped his game of bolos.

But Father Manuel did not give up his endeavor, letting it be known — without revealing his identity — that he was an important priest who had come with a mission, and had reasons and strong ones to accomplish it. Finally Ceferino arrived and permitted the interview with Loli.
It took place in a room of the old rustic house while the others ate on the tables in the café. Facing Loli, who was very diminutive for her age, Father Manuel tried to win her confidence by conducting himself with authority, as one who had a duty to perform. And he told her that she should explain everything, especially the beginning and how the thing had started, since he was there on behalf of someone very important and later would have to make a report.(61)
The girl, thinking herself in front of an authority who had come to submit her to an interrogation, answered the questions and gave all the explanations requested, especially with regard to the beginning of the affair on the evening of June 18th. Father Manuel, who did not know of Conchita's diary and actually hardly knew of Garabandal more than that it existed, told me what Loli had said about the beginning. I can certify that it coincides substantially with the version that Conchita has given in her diary and which I have followed in this history. There were only little differences of detail as occur with any event when there are several witnesses who give their version.
But what most impressed Father Manuel while listening to Loli was her appearance of absolute sincerity; this showed through in her eyes and resonated in her words.
Obviously in the beginning of all this there was no preparation or previous planning of any kind. The children found themselves suddenly with something about which they could never even have dreamed, and which left them in such total bewilderment that they sought shelter first against the walls of the church and then in its interior.
All this was a positive sign of great value for Father Manuel.
Loli came in her recitation to the apparitions of the Virgin. They had talked with her about many things; some of these they could tell the people, but others they could not for: It was still a secret.
Then Father Manuel interrupted her. You must tell me everything, for I have the right to know. I am an important person.
The girl stiffened in her resistance. I cannot, I cannot. The Virgin has said not to tell these things to anyone until the day comes.

But Father Manuel ultimately weakened her resistance with these words: I tell you that I have the authority to ask you, and it is the WILL OF GOD that you tell me everything. So obey.
Then the girl became nervous, and striving very hard, started to respond to what had been commanded.

«But this was astounding» — Father Manuel told me — «I was not able to understand one single sentence. And it was not that she spoke in a low voice, or that she purposely tried to speak in an unintelligible way; it was that the strangest phenomenon resulted in her speech. Up to this point she had been talking completely normal and I understood her perfectly; but at the time she wanted to tell me the secret, it was as if her lips and her tongue did not respond to her will; there was no more than stuttering and a garble of sounds that seemed to strike against each other. I could see how she was trying hard to make herself understood; but I couldn't understand a word. It was just as if suddenly she had begun to speak the most strange and unknown language.
You see? She said to me at the end with her usual clear speech. You see? The Virgin doesn't want me to tell these things.»

That day there were many people in the village, waiting for the apparition which had been announced for the evening at an undetermined hour. Time passed, which in waiting always seems longer, and with each hour that passed, more and more people became impatient. Two of the girls — Loli and Jacinta — were in the house of Loli's grandmother, playing on the second floor that has a balcony facing the plaza;(62) from there they could be seen by visitors.
The time came when impatience from waiting began to show itself and Ceferino, urged on by someone or other, went up to where the girls were to see what was going on. He was with them inside, and after a little while they were seen going out on the balcony in ecstasy. There they stayed for a while. Their attitude, gestures and movements were really admirable (as we know they always were during the ecstasies), but Father Manuel told me that some took a certain attitude of skepticism and distrust, because the coincidence of the going up of Ceferino and the starting of the ecstasy appeared suspicious to them. (63)
The best came later. already at dusk there had been a rosary in the church, overflowing with people. The two girls in their normal state were kneeling up front on a step facing the altar, so as to lead the rosary from there as they had been asked. Father Manuel managed to find a place close to them and in front of them — with the altar at his back — in order that no detail would escape him. He found a place for Father Victor López beside the girls. The rosary was being recited as usual when suddenly toward the second mystery a trembling developed in the girls, and with the typical sudden movement that many were familiar with, they became totally transported, with their heads facing upwards. Father Manuel could observe them at will, and certified that they were truly extraordinary.
Since they continued to lead the rosary while in ecstasy, he was able to make tests with regard to their insensibility, immobility, loss of normal ocular reflexes, etc. The most interesting test was this. He saw that the children did not count the Ave  Marías, either by the rosary or with their fingers.

He gave Father Victor the task of precisely counting the number of those they recited to see if the Gloria came exactly at the end of each decade. Meanwhile he did everything possible to confuse them; at various times during the mysteries, he would lean toward them and shout in their ears, Gloria! Gloria! Say the Gloria, since there are already ten Ave Marías!
«The efforts were ineffective» — he told me — «They said all the Glorias at the right time, without a single mistake.
All this, together with Loli's confessions, left me very thoughtful. And I left Garabandal convinced there was something happening there, something that would be very difficult to explain with purely human and natural elements.»

* * *

As we see, the absence of Conchita, who was influencing the others toward all these strange things, caused neither a shutting off nor an eclipse in the phenomena of Garabandal. On the contrary, it seems during the days of her absence that they took on a new measure of frequency and importance. If all the marvelous history of those days could be written down minutely, it would easily fill hundreds and hundreds of pages. We hope that the innumerable anti-Garabandal barriers that now so obstruct our work will soon be knocked down so the task of making a more extensive and accurate documentation can be undertaken.
In the days that I was at Santander there were in the village two Jesuit priests: Father Ramón María Andreu and Father Luis María Andreu.
They had come like many people without believing anything; and one ofthose days . . .
These names are already known to us since I have already mentioned things ahead of this day. It was in the final days of July 1961, on July 29th to be exact, that two religious brothers entered on the scene. These two religious brothers had an important part to play in the action and the history of Garabandal. Soon we will fix our attention on the second of them. We will leave this to the coming chapter, in order not to extend too much the recounting of what occurred on that illustrious day of July 29th. It will suffice here to summarize what was happening at Garabandal during the time that the Commission at Santander was thinking it had found the solution for this affair with its treatment to cure Conchita.(64)
On July 30th the girls were persisting in their petition to the Virgin that she give a real proof in order that all might believe. «That she would make night into day.»
When they said this it was already night; but not to the girls who were immersed in total light. On another occasion they said, «Even though it be only a very small miracle, like our flying.»
Father Royo Marín who was present there exclaimed, To call flying a very small miracle, what those girls must be seeing!
«The Virgin became serious(65) when we asked for a miracle», they said later.
That day Mari Cruz had one of her ecstasies alone in the house of her grandmother. «Why do you come here, where nobody sees us?» Undeniably she and her companions wished that all these things might radiate out toward others so that they would believe and take advantage of them.

On July 31st the people could see for the first time the way the girls traveled graciously on their knees during the ecstasies. The apparition drew away and its power of attraction made them advance without changing their posture and without getting up off the ground. On the same day there occurred in Loli the first oscillations: a movement or balancing of the body as if it were to fall, but without causing a fall.
On August 1st, Tuesday(66) there were ecstasies near the Pines at three different times: 10:45 a.m., 12:15 p.m. and 5:40 p.m.

During one of these, at noon, the hour of the Angelus, the girls were heard clearly to pray the Ave María with a charming modification and addition: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, and our Mother, pray for us."(67) This seemed acceptable to the Virgin; but she indicated that they should not employ this formula ordinarily as it was not authorized by the church.(68)

On August 3rd, the ecstatic falls occurred for the first time as has already been mentioned. It was certainly on this date that the parish priest from León, Father Manuel Antón went up for the second time to Garabandal. I say certainly, although he does not remember precisely, since it coincides with the arrival of a well-known political figure. Sánchez-Ventura writes that on August 3rd there was in the location of the apparitions an official from Madrid, from which I draw the conclusion that it was on this day that Father Manuel was in Garabandal for the second time. And this time he was alone. One of his two priestly companions, Father Victor López, had preferred to travel on that day to Santander to learn the opinion of the Apostolic Administrator, Doroteo Fernández.

On that August 3rd, Tuesday, Conchita's stay in Santander concluded, and so closed one more chapter in the history of the events, a chapter that has to be considered as a bad scene in the mystery of Garabandal.

60. Father Manuel Antón, the person who informed me of this, thought that it was on the 28th of July, although he was not certain. With the notes from Father Valentín in front of me, I believe it had to be Sunday, July 30th.

61. Father Manuel told me that he had tried very hard to learn accurately how the events had begun, since in these matters it is only necessary to see their origin to be able to judge whether they are a fraud or really come from something external and unknown.

62. This balcony extends the whole length of the front of the building and is always facing as much as possible the noonday sun. It is used by the members of the house to get some air or sun, to view the street and the fields, and to hang farm products to dry or cure.

63. The same person told me that this did not make a good impression on him. And that was the first thing that he saw. Although this was a negative sign for him, he said «Later I obtained many proofs of a completely opposite type.»

I do not think it is hard to find a good explanation for this coincidence of Ceferino going upstairs and the commencement of the ecstasy, considering what has been said.

64. I took this information from Sánchez-Ventura's book on Garabandal.

65. We cannot completely understand the reasons for the seriousness on the part of the apparition; but some of it is explainable. Garabandal was living a daily miracle: the young children neither exhausted nor shaken by such a profusion of trances, the astounding reality itself of such trances, the personal and certain signs that happened every day for someone or another. And the people continued to ask with an attitude of hard resistance or with a disordered thirst for marvels, that they be given a spectacular sign so that they could be certain and convinced!

66. From Father Valentín's notes of July: «They said that on Tuesday at the Pines . . .» On these dates, Mari Cruz almost always had an apparition apart from the others, very frequently on the rustic balcony of her home.

67. Right here is one of the most significant moments at Garabandal.

It cannot be doubted (all the time we are made more aware) that the essence of the Garabandal events was precisely this: that we would live fully the reality that the Virgin Mother of God is also truly our Mother.

The girls, who were experiencing this daily in a supernatural way, came to express what they felt with that spontaneous addition to the great Marian prayer.

68. Although the reason for the Virgin's recommendation can be understood, it can also be understood that this does not prevent us from praying privately as the girls did.