Prophecy of Our time
Fatima and Garabandal both have their own uniqueness; Fatima has its Cova and Garabandal its Calleja. But there are some similarities that cannot be overlooked. At Fatima, for the first time in any of Our Lady’s appearances up until then, an angel prepared the way. This also happened at Garabandal with St. Michael the Archangel appearing several times to the seers before Our Lady made her first appearance. Also, only at Fatima and Garabandal did the seers receive Communion from an angel. Both at Fatima and Garabandal a great miracle was prophesied—fulfilled at Fatima with the Miracle of the Sun and still awaited in Garabandal.
In terms of the characteristics of the apparitions, Garabandal is not a continuation of Fatima, but when it comes to revelations from Heaven for our time, that is another matter. The following excerpt is taken from The Immaculate Heart—the True Story of Fatima by (Fr.) John De Marchi, I.M.C., published in 1952: “Though no attempt has been made in this volume to describe the fulfillment of Our Lady’s promise to return to the Cova da Iria a seventh time, it can be said with certainty that the apparition did take place. It occurred June 18, 1921, Lucia’s last day in Aljustrel before leaving for the convent school at Vilar. That evening, having left her home and paying a last visit to the Cova da Iria, she is said to have seen Our Lady standing at a spot now occupied by the lower steps of the Basilica. I wrote to Sister Lucia about this, but have not yet received a reply. I have, however, been assured by a priest very close to Lucia that she has confirmed the happening.”
At Garabandal, Saint Michael first appeared to the visionaries in the evening (8:30 p.m.) of June 18, 1961, exactly 40 years (a biblical number) to the day (and even the same time of day) from the last vision at Fatima. More common ground between Fatima and Garabandal has to do with Russia. In both places, Our Lady warned of dire consequences for the world at the hands of Russia if her call for a universal amendment of life went unheeded.
FATIMA
Sr. Lucy recorded in her memoirs: “Later... Our Lady said tome, complaining: ‘Not wishing to attend to my request! Like Sr. Lucy recorded in her memoirs: “Later... Our Lady said to me, complaining: ‘Not wishing to attend to my request! Like the King of France, they will repent then make it happen [the Collegial Consecration], but it will be (done) late. Russia will have already spread its errors throughout the world, provoking wars, and persecutions of the Church: The Pope will have much to suffer.’” Sr. Lucia also said in her interview with Fr. De Marchi: “She (Our Lady) said that Russia will be the instrument of chastisement chosen by Heaven to punish the whole world if we do not beforehand obtain the conversion of that poor nation.”
GARABANDAL
A great Miracle has been predicted at Garabandal with the intention of converting the whole world, however, this miracle will not occur until after the fulfillment of other more ominous events. Our Lady told the visionaries at Garabandal that the Church would endure a great “tribulation” (she named it “communism”) which would entail a harrowing persecution the likes of which has never been seen before. This prophecy coincides with one made by Blessed Pius IX who said: “There will come a great sign which will fill the world with awe. But this will occur only after the triumph of a revolution during which the Church will undergo ordeals that are beyond description.”
The author of this great aggression will be Russia. Mari Loli, one of the Gara-bandal visionaries, said: “… Russia will unexpectedly and suddenly overrun and overwhelm a great part of the free world.” And Conchita’s Aunt Antonia heard the visionaries in ecstasy say: “If we don’t amend our ways, Russia will take over the whole world.”
At the moment when all will seem lost, God will intervene. Fr. Joseph Brennan, O.C.S., who summarized the prophetic statements made by saints, blesseds and popes in his article “Prophecy for Our Time” which appeared in the Homiletic and Pastoral Review, May 1983, put it this way: “They foretell a time of unprecedented and terrible confusion and suffering unlike anything ever experienced in human history. It will affect every area of human life. Everything on earth, including the earth itself, will be shaken to its core. Many institutions will never rise again though they be very ancient. Christianity will undergo its most severe test of yet. There will be many casualties, many purifications. Such confusion will reign that it will appear that Christianity has almost vanished.
“But then, as if to fulfill what Jesus said, ‘Unless those days be shortened no flesh shall survive,’ there will be a direct Divine intervention, both amazing and terrible, that will completely reverse the course of world events. As a result of all this there will be a turning to God that will match the apostasy from God that preceded it, with the result, as Our Lady said at Fatima, that ‘a period of peace will be granted to humanity.’ This will be a peace such as the world has never known and it will endure, apparently, for a considerable period.”
The event that will be “both amazing and terrible that will reverse the course of world events” has been called at Garabandal the “Aviso” which translates roughly into English as the Warning. You can read all about it in our FOUR PACK series devoted to Garabandal’s last four things and in our FREE Special Edition.
But the dawning of a new day for the Church will be the result of the great Miracle which Conchita said will be the greatest that Jesus will have ever performed for the world. She added that the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima will be as nothing in comparison. Our FOUR PACK gives all that is known about this future miracle. The last event in the supernatural triduum predicted at Garabandal is the Chastisement which is conditioned on how the world responds after the Warning and Miracle. See our FOUR PACK.
But why should we believe prophecies coming from events that have not yet been approved by the Church? Garabandal cannot be approved (recognized as worthy of belief) until after the Miracle. But in anticipating the wait for that to happen, Our Lady has given abundant proof of Garabandal’s authenticity through extraordinary phenomena and prophecies, some of which have already been fulfilled.
The phenomena at Garabandal so far surpassed anything that ever happened before in Marian apparitions that no comparison is possible. In the first year and a half, the miraculous became commonplace and this has been attested to by a host of credible witnesses. Their testimonies can be found in our editions pictured on the back page and inside back page of this mailer (with contents on the next pages). One phenomenon that happened dozens of times was the Reading of Hearts, which is an especially important proof because, as mystical theologians tell us, it is something the devil cannot do.
Of the prophecies already fulfilled (see our JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2004 edition) the statement that “Less and less importance is being given to the Eucharist” from the second formal message of June 18, 1965, is compelling. Who can deny that this has happened? And how could Conchita Gonzalez possibly have known it on her own?