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The apparitions of

GARABANDAL

BY
F. SANCHEZ-VENTURA Y PASCUAL

APPENDIX B

Page 197

active part in the salvation of the human race in such sad, difficult times. Since ancient times, there have been clear references to this epoch of exceptional Marian apostolate. Our times were foretold by the prophets. We have always known that Mary would crush the serpent's head, and that a certain period in history was reserved for her, when she would intervene in person to show mankind the true road and save us from eternal damnation.

   We live in the twentieth century. If Monroy wishes to meditate in all sincerity, he should cease his arbitrary interpretation of the Bible, and avoid the critical attitude he adopts in seeking a prefabricated, rational explanation for everything. In doing this, he does not hesitate to twist the facts themselves. He should simply contemplate those facts and, above all, expound them in all honesty. He should set aside the causes, which are far beyond our poor comprehension, and judge by the results. Then, he will see the prodigious, inexplicable, miraculous part of it all, and see the truth in the advice and messages, which are far from absurd or contradictory. There is certainly nothing absurd or contradictory in the Mother of God co-operating with her Son for the salvation of the world, and saying such simple things as these: "You must make reparation for your sins, which are disobedience of the laws of God, by means of repentance, prayer, penitence . . ." Fundamentally speaking, this is the sole content of all her messages. It is logical; the relationship between an infringement of the law and the ensuing punishment is a principle that automatically exists, even in Nature itself. In the words of Donoso Cortes: "It has been given to Man to bring society to its knees, to raze the strongest walls to the ground, to sack the most opulent of cities, to overthrow with a crash the farthest-flung empires, to bring horrifying ruin upon the most advanced civilizations, to behead kings or to defy reason. What has not been given to him is the power to suspend for a single day, for a single hour, for a single instant, the inescapable fulfilment of the fundamental moral and physical laws that constitute order in Mankind and in the universe; what the world has never seen, and never shall see, is Man, who flees from order through the gateway of sin, returning to order other than through the gateway of punishment and sorrow, that messenger from God who reaches all of us with His missives."*

   There is nothing contradictory in Mary's messages. In fact, lest anyone should doubt that the message actually comes from her and think it a hallucination or the fruit of hysteria, in every case there have been extraordinary happenings to bear it out. Each message has been stamped with the divine hallmark of miracles. At Fatima, the miracle was announced six months in advance so that everyone should believe. And, at the appointed hour, the sun departed from its normal celestial path and fell earthwards within view of 70,000 spectators. Monroy would doubtless do well to consider this prodigy and then strike his breast and simply admit: "I cannot understand it because it is not in the Bible; but, in the light of what I have seen, I humbly believe . . ."

*   Donoso Cortés. "Complete Works. Historical Sketches"; Vol. II, page 15.

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