Modern Manifestation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Garabandal, 1961-1965
It can be presumed that the readers
are sufficiently informed concerning Garabandal that the prayer, sacrifice
and conversion of sinner’s messages of this contemporary Spanish happening
need be only briefly recalled. In regard to prayer, our Lady requested
that the girls recite the rosary each day, saying it very slowly and thinking
about what they are saying. She also had them say it once or more during
each apparition. She asked that people visit the Blessed Sacrament frequently
and she occasionally reproached the girls for not doing this. She led the
girls in ecstasy into the church and before the tabernacle, or when that
was not possible, She brought them to the closed door of the church or
led them to walk around the church, reciting the rosary. She asked for
prayers for priests and led the girls to pray for the souls of the deceased.
Concerning sacrifice, Our Lady
requested that we make “many sacrifices,” “much penance.” “more sacrifice”
and that we “think about the passion of Jesus" (to motivate our generosity
in making sacrifice and performing penance).
The Blessed Virgin placed great
stress on conversion, pleading that we lead “good lives” that “we amend
our lives,” and warning us about “a very great chastisement” if we do not
change.
In relation to the Immaculate Heart
of Mary, there was no visible manifestation of it at Garabandal. However
there was a visible symbol of that Heart which was very much in evidence.
This was the brown scapular of Mount Carmel, which Mary wore whenever she
appeared (about 2,000 times), except when she occasionally carried the
Infant Jesus in her arms. And it was an exceptionally large scapular, as
though Our Lady was trying to impress us with the importance she – and
her Son – attach to this sacramental. Also, Our Lady of Mount Carmel was
the title by which Mary chose to identify herself at Garabandal. At Lourdes,
it had been the Immaculate Conception, and at Fatima, Our Lady of the Rosary.
The scapular is the symbol of Mary’s
mantle of protection that is of her motherly love and concern. As mentioned
above, there is a very special grace that comes through the constant wearing
of the scapular, the grace of a happy death or assurance that he who dies
wearing it shall never experience the pains of hell. But the protection
of Mary for those who wear the scapular goes far beyond the moment of death.
It extends to the entire life of those who place their trust in her in
this way. The wearing of the scapular should be considered as a consecration
of one’s self to Mary. It is like saying: Mary, I take you as my mother
and place myself confidently under your loving care and protection. I expect
you to watch over me every day and moment of my life, as you did over the
wedding couple at Cana. I promise to love and honor you as a faithful and
grateful child. When we wear the scapular with these sentiments Mary takes
us into her Heart and motherly care in a special way. The scapular then,
like Mary’s Heart itself, should be considered a symbol of her motherly
love.
As was seen, the children of Fatima
were granted a vision of Mary’s Heart. Not so the girls of Garabandal.
However, one of the four girls, Jacinta, did have a silent apparition or
vision of the Sacred Heart in the quadro or sunken lane. The exact
date of this incident is not known. It is the Garabandal happenings that
most impressed her, Jacinta said: “I have great memories about everything,
but especially of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.”
Though Our Lady never showed her
Heart to the girls of Garabandal, she did speak to Conchita twice during
the final apparition of November 13, 1965, of “Our Hearts.” Also, in a
locution (a conversation without accompanying apparition) on July 20, 1963,
Our Lord spoke to Conchita twice of “Our Hearts” and once of “My Heart.”
More important at Garabandal than
the mention of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, is the tenderly loving, motherly,
way in which the Blessed Virgin dealt with the four girls. She literally
showered them – not to say smothered them with manifestations of motherly
love. She visited them some two thousand times, mainly during a period
of a year and a half (July 2, 1961 till January 20, 1963). She even sent
them advance notice of her coming through a series of three calls or llamadas.
She delighted in listening to their
childish chatter “about their work in the fields, their putting hay in
stacks and getting bronzed in the sun.” She encouraged them in this and
showed her pleasure by “laughing as they told her of these things.” She
was very patient with them as they asked na?ve questions, for example,
about heaven and the life that goes on there. She allowed them to take
and hold the Infant Jesus in their arms and to play with Him; to take in
their hands the crown of gold stars that she wore. The tenderness of her
motherly love reached its peak at the conclusion of the apparition when
she kissed them goodbye.
Conchita has said that during some
of the longer apparitions, there would be moments of complete silence when
Our Lady looked at the spectators surrounding them and said “she was looking
at her at her children.” During the final apparition of November 13, 1965,
the Blessed Virgin asked Conchita to tell her about the petitions that
people confided to her and she added: “Talk to me, Conchita, talk to me
about my children. I hold them all beneath my mantle.” It was during the
same final apparition that Our Lady made this statement that was like a
summary of the entire Garabandal event; “Conchita, I have not come for
your sake alone. I have come for all my children, so that I may draw them
closer to Our Hearts.”
Other facts could be advanced,
but the above suffice to show that Garabandal forms indeed a significant
part of the mainstream of modern era manifestations of the Immaculate Heart
of Mary.
