1-3a) Encounter of Love

Reprinted with kind permission from St. Joseph Publications

from the book She Went in Haste to the Mountain (Book 1)

NOTE: All excerpts from Conchita's Diary will be in extra-bold type

Many centuries ago a small yet very beautiful episode took place. It was recorded under the influence of the Holy Spirit, beginning::

Arising in those days, Mary went in haste to the mountain. (St. Luke 1:39)

In Mary's life as recorded in the Gospel, this was one of her magnificent moments: the Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth who was soon to give birth to John the Baptist.

The feastday and liturgical commemoration of this episode —prior to Vatican II— came each year to all the places where a Catholic Church existed on July 2nd.

However, what concerns us now is July 2nd, 1961, when a place in the Catholic Church had more than just a feastday or liturgical commemoration.

On July 2nd the little mountain village of San Sebastian de Garabandal would experience a marvelous reoccurrence of Mary's Visitation.

With the gesture of a mother who could not wait any longer —her children being in danger— once again she went in haste to the mountain.[The province of Santander is commonly called The Mountain (Montaña) by its inhabitants. This name comes from the time when Burgos was by law and by actuality the Caput Castellae (Capital of Castille) in the region of Castille that now corresponds to the province of Santander, which was then called the Montaña of Burgos.] Why? So that she could live with us and assist us! Just as she had lived and assisted in the town and home of Elizabeth on another occasion.

In this modern Visitation, the footsteps of the Pilgrim Virgin [Under the beautiful title of The Pilgrim Virgin,the Virgin Mary is honored on July 2nd at Sahagún (Province of León). The church of this city as well as the beautiful statue of the Virgin are some of the rare remains of an ancient Franciscan convent. On July 2nd the statue is carried in procession, dressed in a robe from the court of the Queen of León, Donna Urraca (1077-1116)] were more subtle than in the ancient Visitation; and only angels knew where she was going and that she was coming to see us.

The splendor of the light from the all beautiful was to shine brilliantly in the darkness at San Sebastian de Garabandal, where the people could barely earn a living, much less comprehend what an angel would be doing there.

It was the hour to pray Vespers [This is part of the Divine Office or liturgical prayer of the church; the proper time for its recitation is in the afternoon or early evening.] in the secluded convents and monasteries. And as usual the prayer ended with many lips bursting forth in the words that the most holy Voyager from the ancient Visitation had radiated from her inner soul during the exchange of greetings with Elizabeth:

No one was reciting Vespers at that hour in Garabandal, and even if someone would have been reciting them, it would have been impossible for him to comprehend the tremendous significance of the actual thing that was going to happen there. For right at that hour, according to the words of old, in the fullness of time [Expression of St. Paul in his epistle to the Galatians: But when the fullness of time was come, God sent his Son. made of a woman.(4:4)] she was coming with haste to the Montaña.

It was approaching six in the afternoon—the long afternoon of a July that was just beginning—as a murmur of expectation and curiosity rippled thru the village. Some strolled through the streets, some made a visit to the church; all sought to be as near as possible to the children when the hour would come for . . . Who knew what to expect?

After a rosary said at three o'clock, the girls had gone down the road toward Cossio to see if one of Conchita's brothers, whom they were expecting, would be coming. They met a large crowd on the way.

They stopped us, and gave us gifts, boxes of candy, rosaries, caramels, and lots of things.

The driver of a car going up recognized them before they had arrived at Cossio and brought them back to Garabandal.

There were ten or eleven priests, doctors [Among the doctors that came, there were two from Santander who would be seen often in the course of this history. Juan A. Seco states:

«The calleja was full of people praying the rosary; everyone wanted to be present for the ecstasy. At my side was the second director of the society 'Saltos del Nansa', Mr. Rocha, who had come up with Doctor Morales and Doctor Piñal from Santander. I recall that Mr. Rocha told me, This afternoon the visionaries won't come to the cuadro for a vision, giving me to understand that these doctors knew how to end the phenomena. I answered him, that in Divine affairs, it is not the doctor who has control.»], an abbot, and many cars.

We went to the calleja to recite the rosary.

And before we had arrived there, the Virgin appeared to us with an Angel on each side.

One of these was St. Michael. The other we didn't recognize. He was dressed like St. Michael They appeared to be twins. [In progressing forward with Conchita's diary, we will expand on these paragraphs.]

St. Michael. Here for the first time the illustrious name is mentioned. And so we now know the identity of the mysterious Angel who visited the children so often during the preceding fourteen days. Today he returns accompanying the Queen; his mission of announcing and preparing the way culminating in her sovereign audience.

Although his name had no special significance for the visionaries, it has great significance for us. Whatever is starting to happen in Garabandal cannot be without the gravest consequences, since God has deigned to use His highest archangel for it.

Catholic doctrine and teaching have always represented St. Michael as the leader of the celestial spirits. He is the instrument God uses for His great works. He is the one who watches from his high place over all the elect — Guardian Angel of the Synagogue in its day, and now Guardian of the Church. He it is who leads, as Prince of the Celestial Army, the great combat against the powers of hell.

In the last book of Sacred Scripture, the final pages of the history of salvation, St. Michael appears as the angel of the last and decisive combat. (Chapters 12 and 20) We might ask ourselves if we are not entering into the final stage of history. The time in which Satan will be permitted to lead away the nations is evidently drawing near.

Today formerly Christian nations have either arrogantly apostatized, declaring themselves officially atheistic, or have come to take a policy of ignoring God to suit their own convenience.

Pope Leo XIII had mysterious and compelling reasons for ordering the prayer after low mass: St. Michael, the Archangel defend us in battle . . .

For some years now, almost since the time of Garabandal, the hierarchy has thought it opportune to stop those post Missam prayers. But this does not permit anyone to think he can neglect prayer to the holy Archangel, as if the battle had already been won. The situation in the church today and the signs of the times proclaim rather the opposite.[ I know that when Conchita was told of the suppression of the prayer to St. Michael at the end of low masses, she exclaimed. How unfortunate! Now when there is such a need!

Many years later Jacinta told me that they did not know that the Angel in the apparitions was the Archangel St. Michael until the Virgin told them on July 2nd.

—And can you tell me who was the other angel accompanying the Virgin?

Yet the great times have hardly begun. Now the Woman (the enemy of the dragon) and the Angel of the Last Combat, according to Chapter XII of the final inspired book, must deploy a truly decisive action in our midst. Careful attention should therefore be given to what they request.

Who was St. Michael's unknown companion in that first Marian hour at Garabandal? Even the girls themselves did not come to learn who he was. However we can suppose he was one of the angels of the first rank, since he showed himself so similar in everything to St. Michael that he could be taken for his twin. Perhaps it was St. Gabriel. Who would be more suited than he to accompany Mary, to whose life and destiny he was so closely linked? (Luke 1: 19.26)

On the right side of the Angel, at the same height as the Virgin, we saw an eye of great size.

It appeared to be the eye of God. [According to Police Chief Juan A. Seco, «the four visionaries, on beginning the ecstasy, shouted out together, The Virgin!»

A little while later, Conchita was heard to say, «Oh! What an eye!»

This mysterious eye must have been marked out by an especially striking light. According to the same witness, the girls appeared for the first time with tears in their eyes, showing more rigidity than before, and were very pale, «with a face of wax » . «The one who cried the most was Mari Cruz, whom a doctor grabbed by the lower jaw in order to twist her face so that she would not stare so fixedly. He was not able to accomplish this in spite of the force that he applied. I heard a crack and I feared that he had done some harm to the girl.» (See picture)]

Today some might find the figure of the eye not with the times and too naive to find in an apparition, like a picture from an old catechism book. But the children from Garabandal were not familiar with catechism books and were not concerned with showing themselves as being with the times. They simply described what they saw. The eye was seen as a sensible sign to inculcate in them and in us the insensible truth, the great truth that so many today want to ignore: that everything is written down . . . that we are going to have to render an account of all our actions. Everything is observed and recorded, ending in final judgment. Today free will controls the situation, but at that time no one will escape. In the end, the Last Judgment. And complete justice, for neither is there any creature invisible in His sight, but all things are naked and open to His eyes. (Heb. 4:13) [In the Apocalypse, )1: [4] the Lord is shown with eyes like a burning flame, indicating His penetrating Divine Knowledge, which is aware of everything, even the most hidden.]

And she talked to us.

We told her everything . . .

«When the visionaries came to the time of the ecstasy, their faces would change expression completely. They would take a position with their faces looking upward toward the Pines: on the right, Maria Dolores; in the middle, Conchita and Jacinta; on the left, Mari Cruz. I was at the side of the latter. They all were holding rosaries in their hands, and they began to tell the Virgin the things that they had done. Although they spoke very low, they could be heard perfectly.

At one time Maria Dolores showed her teeth; later it was learned that the Virgin had mentioned that they were very pretty. After this, Conchita opened her mouth and twisted her lips in an unusual way; later it was learned that she wanted to show the Virgin a tooth that was decaying. At another time, the Virgin must have asked them about Father Valentin, since they said that, He was plain-looking, but very good. Father Valentin himself heard this as did others who were close. I myself heard them speak to the Virgin about the police guards and petition for their benefit because they protect us from the crowd and prevent them from hurting us.

With the greatest confidence they also asked the Virgin to hand her crown down to them; and she must have yielded to their desires, since we could all observe their gestures in taking in their hands something that was coming from above them, and then passing it from one to the other. Conchita dared even more. She asked the Virgin to give her one of the stars in her crown in order to put it on her head in a manner that all present might see it, and so believe in the truth of the apparitions. It appeared that the Virgin answered, They will believe.» (Testimony of Don Juan Alvarez Seco)

And so these simple children of the earth were thus in intimate converse, full of familiarity, with the Queen of Heaven. For she who is a Queen is also a Mother. Mother above all! Not just a mother, but THE MOTHER. It is She who bears in herself all the right of maternity without limitation or restriction.

We can picture these simple children of the earth in their expressions, their gestures, their plain peasant clothes. But how can we conceive the appearance of the Mother and Queen from Heaven?