(For the Greater Glory of God) |
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by Barry Hanratty |
"GARABANDAL: THE CHASTISEMENT" Of the three great prophesied supernatural events of
Garabandal, only the Chastisement is conditional. It can be averted. Whether or
not it will be depends entirely on how the world responds to the Message after
the Warning and Miracle. In biblical times, God used the prophets to warn His people
when their transgressions against the law were reaching the breaking point. In
our time, it is the Blessed Virgin, queen of prophets, who fulfills that role.
At Fatima she foretold the Second World War and the spread of atheistic
communism if the world did not change. At Garabandal, she warns of the greatest
cataclysm in human history since the deluge if mankind does not reform. While the Chastisement has never been the favorite topic for
discussion when it comes to Garabandal, it was primarily to warn us of this
potential event that the Blessed Virgin appeared. This is supported by the fact
that in the first Message of October 18, 1961, the message of Garabandal, the
whole second part, more than fifty percent of the text of the entire Message,
is devoted to the Chastisement. The first part tells us what we must do to
prevent it from happening. In the second Message of June 18, 1965, delivered to
Conchita by St. Michael on behalf of the Virgin, reference to the Chastisement
is again made when Our Lady says: “Before the cup was filling up; now it is
flowing over…. You should turn the wrath of God away from yourselves by your
efforts.” Neither the Warning nor the Miracle are mentioned in the two
formal Messages, but they play an important role nonetheless in regard to the
Chastisement. If it is true that God always warns before He strikes, then the
world should know of the threat of this Chastisement which at the present time
it does not. But after the worldwide Warning and the great Miracle, the
appearances of the Blessed Virgin at Garabandal, with her Message (containing
the threat of a Chastisement), should become common knowledge. It will be at
this point, when the Message is universally known, that the way will be cleared
for the Chastisement to take place if that is what divine justice decrees. In his book The Apparitions of Garabandal, Francisco
Sanchez-Venture y Pascual includes the following note written by Conchita about
the Chastisement: The Chastisement is conditional and depends on whether or
not mankind heeds the messages of the Blessed Virgin and the Miracle. If it
should take place, I know what it will consist of because the Blessed Virgin
told me about it, but I am not permitted to say what it is. Moreover, I have
seen the Chastisement. I can assure you that if it comes, it will be worse than
being enveloped in fire, worse than having fire above and beneath you. I do not
know how much time will elapse between the Miracle and the Chastisement. On the feast of the Holy Rosary, October 7, 1962, Maria
Herrero de Gallardo was in Garabandal and took the occasion to question Mari
Loli about the visions of June 19-20, 1962 (the Nights of the Screams), and
what she and the other visionaries could possibly have seen to cause them to
cry out in such a terrifying manner. Senora Herrero reported: “Oh!” exclaimed the girl. “That was horrible to see. We were
really frightened, and I know no words that could explain it. We saw rivers
change into blood…. Fire fell from the sky…. And something much worse still,
which I'm not able to reveal now.”[1] Further information from Loli was contained in messages
bearing her signature that were presented to Maria Saraco and published in 1970
by Fernand Corteville in his newsletter L'Impartial (No. 31): In spite of continuing to see the Virgin, (during the Nights
of the Screams) we saw a great multitude of people who were suffering intensely
and screaming in terror. The Blessed Virgin explained to us that this great
tribulation, which was not even the Chastisement, would come because a time
would arrive when the Church would appear to be on the point of perishing. It
would pass through a terrible trial. We asked the Virgin what this great trial
was called and she told us it was “Communism.” Then she showed us how the great
Chastisement for all mankind would come, and that it would come directly from
God. At a certain moment, not a single motor or machine would
function; a terrible heat wave will strike the earth and men will begin to feel
a great thirst. In desperation they will seek water, but this will evaporate
from the heat. Then almost everyone will despair and they will seek to kill one
another. But they will lose their strength and fall to the ground. Then it will
be understood that it is God alone Who has permitted this. Then we saw a crowd in the midst of flames. The people ran
to hurl themselves into the lakes and seas. But the water seemed to boil, and
instead of putting out the flames, it seemed to enkindle them even more. It was
so horrible that I asked the Blessed Virgin to take all the young children with
her before all this happened. But the Virgin told us that by the time it came,
they would all be adults. Will It Happen? According to the first Message of Our Lady, the Chastisement
is conditional and can be averted. However, if history repeats itself, as it
usually does, then it's hard to see it not happening. Both at La Salette and
Fatima conditions were given by Our Lady that, if met, would forestall the
impending threatened punishments. The warnings were not heeded and the rest is
history. Did the Chastisement change from being conditional to
unavoidable during the events themselves? The first Message of Our Lady
delivered on October 18, 1961, had virtually no effect, and so after the first
Night of Screams on June 19, 1962, Mari Loli and Jacinta wrote a message which
was followed a few days later by a second one. These messages can only be
described as dire. On August 7, 1971, in a message to American Garabandal
workers, Conchita twice made reference to the Chastisement and her belief that
it would indeed take place: We are now in the last warnings, in the final moments. God
has already prepared us for all the last things, even the Chastisement, for it
is needed. The Chastisement must come because the Miracle will not suffice by
itself to make us change. It is true that we will change after seeing the
Miracle, but then we will fall again. That is why all of us who hear these
words should prepare ourselves and induce all those around us, all those within
our reach, to change their lives… … However, it will not be possible to avoid the Chastisement
because we have now lost even the sense of sin. We have reached such an
extremity that God cannot now avoid sending the Chastisement. We need it for
our own good. Those who survive the Chastisement will change very much and then
we shall live for God until the end of time, which will also arrive.[1] Regarding the above statements of Conchita, which the
visionary herself acknowledged were only her own opinion, Father Joseph
Pelletier had this to say: Conchita's opinion… must always be considered as strictly
her own. No matter how much one may be tempted to agree with her position on
the matter, that position does not reflect Our Lady's very precise words which
always have presented the Chastisement as conditional, as a thing that can be
avoided. Let us heed Conchita and not attach an importance to her words that
they do not warrant. What Our Lady has said is one thing. What Conchita
conjectures will happen, may very well happen. But it is always her conjecture
and she could be wrong.[2] That certainly is a fair analysis. In fact, when interviewed
by Father Francis Benac, S.J., in 1978,[3] Conchita expressed a different view: Father Benac: We read in the books (on Garabandal) that on
that Night of the Screams, Our Lady advised that nobody should be around you,
that she wanted you girls to be all alone. Could you explain that? Was it about
the Chastisement? Did you see it and if so, how would you describe it? Conchita: Oh I don't know; I don't remember. I don't want to
remember. Benac: Would you mind repeating that? Conchita: No, that I don't want to even remember it, it was
so terrible. Benac: Would it be a Chastisement such as an atomic war? Conchita: I don't know; I have never seen such a thing in my
life nor could I imagine it. Benac: Do you think the Chastisement can be averted with
prayer? Conchita: I think so. I don't think that it should take
place; I think it won't happen. It seems to me that it would be impossible for
such a thing to happen. It is for this reason that I believe God is sending us
the Aviso (Warning) so that we may acknowledge all the evil within us. Later He
will send us the Miracle to manifest His love and His presence amongst us…. I feel
that it is impossible that after this we should not change. However, two years later in 1980, when Conchita was
interviewed by the BBC, she again expressed her view that the Chastisement
would come: “I think we're going to get the punishment.” Another statement made by her suggests that it's a foregone
conclusion: “Prior to this, the Blessed Virgin had told me that Jesus is not
going to send the Chastisement to discourage us, but to help us and to
reprimand us for not heeding Him.”[4] Other Sources Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi saw a future “Three Days of
Darkness” which is generally believed to be the same event as the Chastisement
prophesied at Garabandal. Blessed Elizabeth Canori-Mora, a contemporary of
Blessed Anna Maria, also saw this same event. While all this points to the actuality of the Chastisement,
it nevertheless still can be avoided simply because the Blessed Virgin said so.
Much must happen first: the communist tribulation, the Warning and the Miracle.
According to Conchita's locution with Jesus on June 21, 1963, He told her that
as a result of the Miracle, Russia and other countries would be converted. This
seems to suggest that if the Chastisement does come, it will not be for a while
although we really don't know. Final Reflections In November, 1967, Spanish artist Isabel Daganzo, who wanted
to commit to canvas representational images of the visions of Garabandal, had a
number of interviews with Conchita while the visionary was at school in Burgos.
One of the questions she asked was: “Could you speak about something that I
could put on canvas that could cause fear?” Conchita replied: “No. What I have
seen that could cause fear is the Chastisement, and I can't tell you about
that. Besides, terror and fear are not the best means to move souls.” This shows good insight on the part of Conchita. To dwell
too much on the destructive nature of the Chastisement could lead to moroseness
and would oppose a healthy spiritual outlook. Everything happens within the
providence of God, even the Chastisement if it should come. If it does happen,
it will be because that is the best and most necessary thing to happen at that
particular time. And even in this cataclysmic event can be seen divine mercy.
If the glory of God in the world is on the verge of being overwhelmed by evil,
He will intervene to preserve the good. ↑ She Went in Haste to the Mountain. ↑ Our Lady Comes to Garabandal by Joseph Pelletier, A.A. ↑ Ibid. ↑ The Call of Garabandal. ↑ Our Lady Comes to Garabandal. Barry Hanratty Garabandal: The Chastisement Published on April 29, 2006 by Barry Hanratty in Marian
Private Revelation |