She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 38)

“She kissed them all.”

The Kiss of Grace

On that July Monday, the day of the second apparition of Mary, Queen and Mother, the calls appeared for the first time, as we have just seen. And something else also appeared that has no precedent in the history of the Catholic Church, and which would come for that reason to be uniquely characteristic of Garabandal. I undertake to describe here the kisses of grace.

We have previously read:

The people and our parents who were there gave us articles so that we might present them to be kissed.
And she kissed them all.

Through these words this gracious event is indicated. During the course of history, many examples will come forth of the Virgin’s hidden generosity. Here it is necessary to make some observations which will aid in understanding this better.
Again we go back to the testimony of Father Ramón María Andreu and the report he wrote three months after the Garabandal phenomena had begun.
«Stones have also been a frequent article in the visions of the children. The stones involved were small, about the size of caramel candy. They gathered them from the ground while in the trance, or else they brought the stones with them beforehand. They gave them to the Virgin to kiss, afterwards they returned them to people as a gift or sign of pardon. It was frequently seen that the Vision herself asked the children for more stones; but they didn’t gather more.

Cases of hierognosis (secret and mysterious understanding to distinguish holy and sacred objects from other things) have been observed in connection with the stones kissed by the Virgin. For example, one day one of the children in a trance held up a little cup of stones to offer them up to be kissed by the Virgin. While raising one of them toward the Virgin, she was clearly heard to say, What? What has already been kissed? Oh! It is André’s.»

________

A little stone is an insignificant thing, worthless; but the same stone is converted into a precious treasure by being distinguished with the Virgin’s kiss.
The kissing of stones occurred mainly in the first weeks of the ecstasies. Later almost nothing else was kissed except religious articles like crucifixes, rosaries, medals, holy cards, scapulars.
«It was customary to see the children with rosaries, medals, and crucifixes around their necks. These were things that the public gave them for the Virgin to kiss. A considerable number of cases of hierognosis have been observed in connection with the offering of objects to be kissed. Also cases have been cited —the majority difficult to prove — of favors obtained or cures made either at the moment of giving those objects to be kissed, or on receiving them back, or later when the recipients used them.»
(Father Ramón)

It was a proven fact that the children, in spite of the multitude of objects that passed through their hands and which they held up to be kissed without any pre-established order, never erred in returning each one of the objects to the proper person. And they did this with their faces turned upwards, without seeing the people, and sometimes with the persons involved being behind their backs, or deliberately remaining at a distance. In all these circumstances it was evident that someone invisible was there with words or gestures directing the hands of the children.
But the Virgin did not only kiss definitely religious articles and small stones, the simple stones of biblical significance; she also kissed other objects that did not seem appropriate for her lips.

She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 37)

Conchita waiting . . .

On another occasion I was with Jacinta, Loli and three priests. Being advised that they had received the second call, I went with one of the priests to Conchita’s house and there asked her, How many calls have you had? She answered me, Two, Father. Then Mari Cruz who was there said, The Virgin hasn’t called me. I told her, Well, then, go home. And she obeyed.
The children could notice that, although the third call had begun, there still remained a period of time, as they told me on one occasion, There is only time for one line. (I was writing, and that was the way it was.) Another time I heard this, Father, there are now two and a half. This half must be like the coming of the third.

________

These words were written down by Father Ramón María Andreu, an eyewitness of many things at Garabandal. Let us return now to the unfolding of the story on Monday, July 3rd.
We told (our families) about the calls.
They were astounded since they had never seen or heard this!
After our conversation with them, we had a call and we told them about it.
The four of us were together.
And there were many people and some of them didn’t believe, which could have been because they had never come.
They spoke to the parish priest Fr. Valentín, Why not put two in Loli’s house and the other two in Conchita’s house?
And Father Valentín said, That’s a good idea.

So with the parents’ permission, it was done that way. Loli and Jacinta were put in Loli’s house; Conchita and Mari Cruz in Conchita’s house.

They separated us that way to see if the four of us would come together at the same time.
And after a half hour we received the second call.
And the four of us came together there in the cuadro at the same time.
And the people were amazed.
As soon as we arrived at the cuadro, the Virgin appeared to us with the Child Jesus.
But the Angels didn’t come.
She came with a broad smile, and the Child was smiling too.
And the first thing that we said was, Where are St. Michael and the other Angel?
And she smiled even more.
The people and our parents who were there gave us articles so that we might present them to be kissed.
And she kissed them all.
And since we liked to make up games for the Child Jesus, we picked up pebbles.
And I put them in my braids, Loli put them in her sleeves, and Jacinta gave them to Him.
But He didn’t take them; He only smiled.
(On this occasion Mari Cruz offered the Child some caramels that had been given to her.)
And she said many things to us.
But she didn’t allow us to tell these things.
In this childlike narration there are many astonishing things: 1. The miraculous exact coincidence of the calls in the four girls in spite of the separation imposed on them; 2. The fact that the Angels, having completed their mission to prepare
and accompany, had prudently withdrawn so that all attention might be directed on the person who really mattered; 3. The presence of the spectators who tried to enter more into the grace of Mary’s presence, offering objects for her to kiss so as to treasure them later as the sweet radiation of her maternal benevolence; 4. The girls’ normal reaction to a beautiful Child, making up games as an expression of their affection for Him.
But what is most worthy of attention is that She said many things . . . Although she did not permit the girls, at least for the moment, to repeat what she said.
With the visionaries she tolerates many childish things. What mother or teacher doesn’t do so? But she raises them above their childish ways and natural dispositions. She didn’t come just to pass the time, even in her almost divine way. Nor did she come to demonstrate her kindness in a multitude of small favors. She came above all to aid and direct, not according to our ideas or plans, but completely according to the difficult designs of God. For this she spoke many things on that night. For this she was to continue to speak on many other nights. Certain things, that were of interest to all or many, would be known at the proper time; certain others would remain forever personal secrets of the visionaries. What St. Therese of the Child Jesus wrote about her own story, can be written now about Garabandal: Many pages of this story will never be read on earth.
In this meeting, after having exchanged words with the children, the Queen might have added the words from Proverbs (8:32-35) that the Catholic liturgy has often placed on her lips.

Now therefore, you children, hear me:
Blessed are they who keep my ways.
Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not.
Blessed is the man who hears me,
and watches daily at my gates,
and waits at the posts of my doors.
He who shall find me, shall find life,
And shall have salvation from the Lord.

She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 36)

The Four Seers in the Calleja.

The Mysterious Calls

When the hour was approximately the same as Sunday—the first day on which we had seen the vision—our families, who were now believing a lot, said to us, You should go to say the rosary in the Cuadro.
And we told them, We haven’t been called yet.
And they thought about this and said, But how are you called?
An we answered that it was like an interior voice, but that we didn’t hear it with the ears, nor did we hear ourselves called by name.
It is a JOY.(3)
There are three calls.
The first is a very little joy.
The second is somewhat greater.
At the third we become very excited and feel great happiness.
And then she comes.
We would go outside (to the site of the apparition) after the second call.
For if we would go after the first we would have to wait a long time, since from the first to the second there is a long wait.

Here emerges for the first time a phenomenon that is most amazing, most unusual, and most proper to Garabandal: the visionaries’ interior calls. At this stage of our history Conchita advances explanations that were the fruit of larger experience later on. So as to better understand this phenomenon, I am going to insert here what was written in the early times of the apparitions by Father Ramón María Andreu S. J.,(4) an exceptional witness of the Garabandal events. It is to be pointed out that the calls occurred only when the Virgin was going to come, and never when it was simply a visit with the Angel.

Father Andreu reported:
«The phenomenon of the calls or interior touches from which the ecstasies arose happened to the four girls in the following way. They would say that there were always three calls. These could occur at the same time when they were together; they could occur at the same time when they were separated; they could occur at a time which was not the same even if they were together; they could occur to all four, to just one, or to several of them.

The word call was originated by the girls themselves who talked like this: Today the Virgin did not "call" me. Today she "called" me. I have already had one "call" or two . . .

It is not easy to describe the nature of the calls. The girls said they were like a joy from within, a clear and definite joy that was always present. It was as if the Virgin had said in the first call, Jacinta! and in the second, Jacinta, come! and in the third, Jacinta, run, run, run! But all this without audible words.

The children hid the calls; and if they were not asked, or if they did not spontaneously mention them in some cases, they would not have been noticed.

Here are some cases that I myself observed. One day Loli was pouring a glass of water for Mr. Matutano(5) so that he could take an aspirin. And while she was still pouring she felt the third call. Putting down the pitcher and glass, she exclaimed, Let’s go, Father, since she’s calling me.

3. Here the youthful Conchita tries to explain in her poor vocabulary what no human tongue is able to express adequately. She does not succeed in telling us what these calls are in themselves; she informs us as well as she can about some of their effects. We are here before a case of direct communication between God and the soul, without the interplay of signs and words. The interior of the soul is marvelously filled by a divine breath which calls it, and fills it with light, assurance, docility, and joy toward God or the Virgin.
4. The name of this Jesuit priest will be forever linked to the history of Garabandal. He had three brothers in the Jesuit order, two of them stationed outside of Spain. He was dedicated especially to directing retreats on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, and had his residence in the house of Christ the King in Valladolid. Later on we will see in detail his connection with Garabandal.
5. Mr. Matutano, who was from Valencia, lived in Reinosa (Santander) because of his rice business. He frequently visited Garabandal, pitching a tent near Conchita’s home. One of his daughters was very close to Conchita, and from this came occasions of mild vanity for the visionary, since the young Valencian painted her nails, gave her jewelry, clothes, etc.

After relaying this information, this priest who was trustworthy added: «This is another detail that shows what many of us have done to the girls—disturbing at times the work of heaven in preparing and directing these girls toward the struggle that they are going to have to face in the future.»

She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 35)

Conchita with her mother, Anacita and brother's Miguel, Aniceto & Serafin.

The parents of Marí Cruz, Escolástico and Pilar, did not appear to have the same level of enthusiasm . . . As for the family of Conchita:

My mother really believed, without doubting anything.
How much we talked on that Sunday!
My brothers really believed insofar as they saw, and not only did they believe, but also it made them quite spiritual as it made many people.

Good sign! The affair was more than just something exciting, a remarkable change in the ordinary routine of country living. It was producing an impact on consciences and leading to a revision of ideas and conduct, awakening the need to become better.
There were people who liked what happened on that Sunday.
And there were others who were not impressed.
In our daily life, we did what our parents told us to do.

It is striking with what frequency Conchita repeats in many passages of her diary the fact that they applied themselves above all to fulfill the obligations of obedience.
Surely the obedience mentioned by Conchita had its foundation in the solid upbringing received in the families with Christian tradition; the contacts with
the Angel and meetings with the Virgin could not but strengthen that way of acting. During those extraordinary sessions of instruction—the ecstasies—
following teaching not invented by man, time would not be allotted for dissertation on a person’s rights, on the requirements of one’s own personality, on
liberty. On the contrary, almost always would be taught the old doctrines of self-denial, taking up the cross each day, and of being submissive as the One who for love ended up, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. (Phil. 2:9)
For this reason, it never occurred to the girls to oppose the recommendations of their elders in age, position, or authority by using the excuses used by many today to escape bothersome discipline such as, You don’t understand us. You belong to another century. Those old-fashioned ideas are passé.
They obeyed and offered up the sacrifice, knowing that the way to God is by renunciation and sacrifice, that the chores and duties of each day are more important, though many times less satisfying , than anything else, even the moments of paradise in the calleja.
In our daily lives we did what our parents told us.
The ultimate instruction.
But duty did not take up all the hours of the day.
In the afternoon when we left the school, (5:00 P.M.) as we had spent a very happy Sunday, July 2nd, and as we already had such a desire to see her again (The Virgin), we went there; (the calleja) and we began to say the rosary.
We were alone.
And when we had finished and hadn’t seen her, we said nothing at the time.
We weren’t surprised, nor were we sad, as she could still come later.
Then, since she hadn’t come, we went to our homes and did what we were told to do at home.

She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 34)

Jacinta's Parents on the Left

An Exciting Monday

We can imagine that the four privileged girls slept blissfully on that Sunday night. The marvelous presence of the Mother of God had filled them with joy through the music of her words and the radiance of her continence and smile.

Naturally on waking up that Monday morning, July 3rd, the thoughts of the four girls were drawn immediately to the Virgin, and so they returned in a hurry to the scene of their good fortune.

Monday, July 3rd, arrived, and we were very happy to have seen our Heavenly Mother.
In the morning, the first thing that we did on Monday, July 3rd, was to go and pray there at the cuadro, the four of us together.

Together and certainly alone. The villagers had a lot of things to do. They had to make journeys to the distant pastures. The girls themselves would have to do the same. However, since the happenings of the previous evening, they had to understand that prayer—conversation with heaven— should not be just one of the many things that take up the time of day. It should be the most important— that with which they should start the day— and it deserved their greatest attention.

Together and alone. Under the deep blue summer sky, surrounded by the silence and tranquility of a nature pure and renovated from the previous evening. What a beautiful morning prayer! God’s four little girls were there looking up to Him, with their sighs supplying words for many of God’s creatures like the sun and vegetation that cannot express themselves, as they prayed to the Spirit that
breathes where He wills; and you hear His voice, but you know not where He comes nor where He goes. (John 3:9)

Together and alone. Offering up the new day to God in thanksgiving and petition, unusually joyful and unusually ardent, sensing themselves both sheltered and at the same time obligated by an immense display of Divine Love. From where had
this mysterious whirlwind come to suddenly interrupt their way of life and draw them into something they could never have dreamed?

After praying there in the cuadro, we went back to our homes to do what our parents ordered.
And then we went to the school. At the class we met our schoolmistress
Serafina Gómez.
She began crying and kissed us saying, How lucky you are, etc . . .
The good schoolmistress’ feelings are readily explainable. How could she have even imagined that such things would happen to the children of her simple little school.

And the wave of excitement rippled through the village.

When we left the classroom everybody was talking about the same thing.
All were very impressed and happy.
And they believed very much.
And our family felt the same way.
As for Loli’s family, her father Ceferino said, There’s never been anything like this.

You are very right, my friend Ceferino. Things like these just starting to show themselves have been only rarely seen in the world, and perhaps it would be better to say that this type of thing has never been seen. Well could you praise God and
try to cooperate with Him.

It was the same also with her mother Julia.
And María the mother of Jacinta, believed very much too, and her father Simón even more.
If we performed some practical joke, Jacinta’s father would say that the apostles had done the same.
And he would begin to explain the things we did; to him it appeared that
everything we did was good.

The good will of Simón and his noble sentiments for the things of God, (qualities found in genuinely good souls even with a lack of education) caused him to protect and excuse the girls from the opinions and comments which were soon to burst forth from the skeptics who never understand the working of the Divine Hand in lowly human affairs. Simón would have preferred then and there to see the girls immediately in a state of absolutely faultless angelic perfection so as to prove the authenticity of their visions.(2)

2. There are apparitions and ecstasies which are a reward for virtue and at the same time a strong confirmation of it; and for this, they are only given to the highest realms of the spiritual life, to those we call saints.

But there are also apparitions and ecstasies that happen to those who, while receiving them, serve more as instruments than as recipients. God uses these persons to bring forth His extraordinary designs of mercy. And so He chooses not those who merit more, but those who are more useful for His plans. In such souls there can co-exist both the extraordinary favors of God and also many of their own imperfections. These imperfections will disappear if these souls try to correspond; not immediately and from the very first day, but as a fruit of perserving effort, since both in the natural life and in the spiritual life, progress is gradual. Without taking this into account, one will not be able to easily understand Garabandal.

She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 33)

CHAPTER FOUR

AND HE DWELT AMONG US

This important statement refers to the enactment of the greatest event in history: the Incarnation of the Word and Son of God. (John 1:14)

But we can use these words in a different analogy when describing lesser events that comprise the history of Garabandal.

It was as if the Virgin, with her new Visitation on that first Sunday of July, 1961, was to begin her mysterious dwelling among us. In the first Visitation of the Gospel, Mary stayed in Elizabeth’s home about three months (Luke 1:56) to accompany and assist her.
Now for the same purpose of accompanying and assisting at Garabandal, she has remained with us more than three years. Our need is greater than was that of her cousin Elizabeth.

* * *

More than once I have been thrilled at Lourdes in hearing the French song that begins, Chez nous soyez Reine. (Be with us, our Queen.) At the time of departure during the large pilgrimages, this song is sung with devotion and feeling. The words implore the Virgin to be Queen Chez nous. The French expression is hard to translate and refers to what is properly one’s own; what belongs to one’s own house. Chez nous soyez Reine. Be Queen among us, with us. Queen in our lives and
in our homes.
At Garabandal this hymn might be slightly changed. For at Garabandal she came as a Queen, but also as a Mother. It seems that Mary came here to manifest her maternity in all its beauty and graciousness.
The children understood this from the first meeting. Although ravished by the unparalleled beauty of the apparition and by a glory greater than that of any earthly Queen, they did not stay in a state of awe toward the Lady as well they might have called the Vision seen at the calleja, as formerly Bernadette had called her Vision at the grotto.(1) The children looked at the Vision more in the quality of a mother and immediately began to confide in her and speak freely. Conchita has related some of this:

That day we talked much with the Virgin, and she with us.
We told her EVERYTHING.
And she laughed because we said so many things.
She was like a mother who for a long time had not seen the daughter who was telling her everything that had happened.
And much more in our case since we had never seen her.And she was our Mother from Heaven.
The first day was already marked with a pattern that would be seen from then on. The MOTHER came to listen with an interest and pleasure to all the words of her children, their little affairs, their child-like interests, their troubles. She came also to enter their lives as a MOTHER-CHILD, to place herself at the level of the children and even condescend to submit to their innocent requests. She gave them her crown of golden stars to touch and examine. She placed her Child in their arms. She received and returned kisses, and even went so far on one occasion as to play with the children.
Naturally she did not come just to hear or be heard. If she descended, it was done to raise us up. And all those things that seemed so trivial and disconcerting to the wise and prudent of this world (Matt. 11:25) were to become in her hands the elements of a divine pedagogy with which she would teach, prepare, and condition for the difficult works of God.

Oh Lord how admirable is Your name in the whole earth!
For Your Magnificence is elevated above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of infants and of nursing babies
You have perfected praise,
because of Your enemies,
That You may destroy the enemy. (Psalm 8)

But let us not get ahead of the story.

English: Art of Lourdes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1. Bernadette Soubirous, the visionary from Lourdes, did not immediately recognize that the one who was appearing on the bank of the Gave River was the Most Holy Virgin; for weeks she only knew to speak of the lady, the lady of the grotto at Massabielle.

She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Page 32)

“We are all always with her.”

Mountains and Hills, Bless the
Lord; Bless the Lord all Things
That Breed on the Earth.
(Daniel 3: 75-76)

Let us return to the narration from the diary: That day we talked much with the Virgin,
And she talked with us.
We told her everything. Concerning what was comprised in this everything, Conchita wrote down especially this:We told her that we walked to the pastures, that we were tanned, that we took the hay to the barns. And she laughed. We told her about so many things!
Since the first time I heard the story of Garabandal (unfortunately I was not there to see it personally) these words from Conchita have always sounded like music from a great pastoral symphony. They are like a brief strophe of pure air, of untainted fragrance, of childlike freshness on which were just beginning to fall the first traces of decay. With all the charm of a hillside breeze, those lines from the hand of the little narrator, chiseled with grace, truthful and sincere, reveal to us how hard each day was for the little children of the mountain village during the summer season.
It is a pleasure to walk through the hillside meadows when everything is in bloom; cut hay gathered and stacked under the sun has a fragrant scent. But to work hard, cutting and gathering it, carrying and putting it in a barn far away—the peasants do not call that a pleasure.
We should not be surprised then that the girls of Garabandal on that July 2nd, while seeing the heavenly Mother for the first time, would tell her all about the hard work of gathering hay. Didn't that stand out as the most detestable of all their daily chores? And the Mother was there to learn about it. No one could listen like her, for no one could love like her, for no one could be as interested as she in everything that concerned her children. Her laughter and smile full of tenderness and grace came as a breeze from paradise on those four creatures who so early had come to know the hard facts of life. When they had finished their childlike conversation, the Mother could speak with the words of Isaac of old, Behold the fragrance of my child is as the fragrance of a fruitful field, which the Lord has blessed. God give you the dew of heaven. (Gen. 27: 27-28)

Mother and Teacher

We said the rosary looking at her. And she prayed with us in order to teach us how to pray well.

The simple practice of the rosary, so underestimated today, has extraordinary and mysterious power to lead souls through Mary to God; it obtains from Him the mercies that the world needs. Imagine listening to the Virgin reciting the Our Father and Glory Be to the Father with the young girls. Then everything was a prayer of love, of praise, and of petition. But according to what Conchita tells us, when she recited the Ave María with them, it was not only an exercise of prayer, but also an instruction. The girls, like other children and adults too for that matter, had the bad habit of praying in a hurry, with poor pronunciation, almost mechanically. She showed them that one should not talk to God like this. Afterwards when the girls had learned their lesson,(15) the celestial apparition accompanied them only in the recitation of the Gloria.
When we had finished the rosary, she said that she was leaving. And we told her to stay a little while, since she had been there only a very short time. And she laughed, and told us she would return on Monday. Then when she left, it made us sad.

Nothing astonishing about that. In heaven time passes rapidly; while in the darkness of hell, the hours pass slowly in monotonous depression.

When she had gone, the people came to embrace us and ask us what she had said. Some of the people didn't believe since we had talked so much. How could the Virgin talk and listen so much?

Always the habit of applying our feeble conceptions and poor judgment to everything, even to the things of God! To say that the children had talked too much! As if God and the Virgin were such haughty persons that one could only go the Them with great formality and protocol to deal strictly with serious matters and important business.(16)
For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts. (Is. 55: 8-9)
At that time Jesus answered and said: ‘I praise You, Oh Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things (the Queen's mysteries) from the wise and the prudent and have revealed them to little ones. (Matt. 11:25)
But the majority did believe, because they said it was like the case of a mother who hadn't seen her daughter for a long time, who tells her everything. And how much more we who have never seen her. Besides, she is our mother in heaven. They took us to the sacristy and a priest named Father Francisco Odriozola(17) questioned us one after the other. And afterwards he told the people what we said to him. That is how the Sunday of July 2nd ended. A very happy day, because we saw the Virgin for the first time. For we are all always with her, whenever we want to be.

There would not be a better conclusion for a main chapter of the new Visitation of Mary.

She is always with us.

And we can be with her, whenever we want to be.

By faith and love, by devotion and imitation. Nothing is more important than that, more important even than the apparitions themselves, which would serve no point if they did not lead us to that end.
Blessed are you who have believed, was said to Mary at the time of the Visitation. (Luke 1:45) We, her children, do her little service if we do not strive to acquire before all other virtues, the first one of faith.

July 2nd, 1961 . . . The Lord's day . . . Sunday. Day of a new Visitation by the Virgin. With the passing of time, it will come about that the Catholic liturgy will repeat in commemoration of July 2nd at Garabandal that which it says each year on
February 11th in Celebrating Lourdes:

Today the glorious Queen of Heaven appeared on the earth. Today she brought to her people words of salvation and tokens of peace.

Today the choirs of angels and the faithful, exulting with joy, celebrate her Immaculate Mystery. (Antiphon from Vespers)

15. During the apparitions one of the things that struck the visitors to Garabandal was the prayer of the girls in ecstasy. They prayed with great cadence in their voices, unhurriedly, with tremendous feeling. Hearing some of these prayers on a tape recorder was—of all the things that I first knew about Garabandal—the thing that most convinced me.
16. From the beginning, one of the strong reasons that certain intellectuals advanced against the supernatural nature of the events of Garabandal was namely this: the quantity and puerility of the conversations that the visionaries held with their invisible interlocutors. Although this may be a very wise point, how can anyone show that the matters of children are of less worth and importance in the eyes of God than the affairs of adults?
17. This priest resides in the city of Santander; sometime later he was named canon of the cathedral. He was to become one of those most involved in the investigation of Garabandal, and his name will always be connected to the history of these amazing events.