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The apparitions of

GARABANDAL

BY
F. SANCHEZ-VENTURA Y PASCUAL

Chapter Twelve

CONCLUSIONS

Page 156

to say it because of the attitude of some Catholics who consider themselves "more Catholic than the Pope". To justify my view, let me relate a short anecdote.

   I am friendly with a writer who specializes in Marian subjects. I thought that he might be interested in seeing a filmed report on Garabandal. I have a series of carefully selected slides and a taped commentary to go with them, which includes the recorded voices of the girls saying the rosary while in an ecstasy, and some of their conversations with the Blessed Virgin. I also have a number of films of certain ecstasies. Quite apart from the authenticity of these events, I think all this has a human value for everybody, and especially for someone who is known to be an expert on the subject. The impact of the filmed account is tremendous. It effectively arouses and strengthens ones love of God and of the Blessed Virgin. On the other hand, there is no Church provision forbidding one to look at photographs of Garabandal. Be this as it may, my offer was indignantly turned down, with much touching of wood and astonishment that anyone should have been rash enough to make such a proposal, which he saw as the most heinous of sins. Calling on all my powers of understanding, I respect his opinion, but I must confess that it strikes me as absurd.

   Garabandal—I repeat—still remains a mystery. Our Lady, who almost "lived" in the village for most of 1961 and 1962, was absent for a time, it is true . . . Why? Perhaps it is the human element that is to blame, for, in my view, it has failed her rather badly. But, even though she was absent, she did not sever the contact. She is still "carrying on the correspondence" as we might call it, if the expression is not irreverent, and in her "letters" she promises to return on the day of the great miracle.

   On December 8, 1964, she "called" Conchita in a locution to greet and congratuate her on her Saint's day.*  On January 1st, 1965,

*    When Conchita came out of church saying that she had had a locution, a priest who was there at the time asked her to give him a written account of the phenomenon. Then and there, in the sacristy, taking up pen and paper, she spontaneously proceeded to write with the greatest of ease the description given below:

   "While I was giving thanks to God and asking Him for things, He answered me. I asked Him to give me a Cross, for I am living without any suffering other than the suffering of not having a Cross to bear, and when 1 was asking this of Him, Jesus replied: Yes, I shall give you the Cross: and, much moved, I went on asking Him for more things, and I said to Him: "Why is the miracle coming? To convert people? And He replied: To convert the whole world. Will Russia be converted? She will also be converted and thus everybody will love Our Hearts. And will the punishment come after that? And He did not answer me. Why have You come to my poor undeserving heart? I have not come for your sake; I have come' for everybody's sake. Is the miracle going to happen as if I were the only one to have seen the Blessed Virgin? And He responded: For your sacrifices, your forbearance, I am allowing you to be the intercessor to work the miracle. And I said to Him: Would it not be better if it were all of us, or, otherwise, if You did not make any of us the intercessor? And He said to me: No. Will I go to Heaven? And He replied to me: You will love very much and you will pray to Our Hearts. When will You give me the Cross? And He did not answer me. What will I be? And He did not answer. He only said that wherever I am and whatever I do, I shall have much to suffer. And I said to Him: Will I die soon? And He responded: You will have to be on earth to help the world. And I said to Him: I am worthless, I shall not be ahle to help at all. And He said to me: By your prayers and sufferings you will help the world. When people go to Heaven, do they go dead? And he said to me: People never die. I thought we did not go to Heaven until we were resurrected. I asked Him whether St. Peter was at the gates of Heaven to receive us, and He said: No.

When I was in this prayer or conversation with God, I felt outside this world.

Jesus also told me that there are now more people who love His Heart. About priests. He told me 1 must pray hard for them, so that they may be saintly and do their duty and make others better. That they may make Me known to those who do not know Me; and that they may make Me loved by those who know Me, but do not love Me.

(Signed) Conchita Gonzalez.

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