1-9d) A Voice Coming Down from the Mountains

Conchita's diary terminates her brief summary of the mysterious conversation on August 16th with the dead Father Andreu in these words:

On that day the Virgin told us that on the following day we would hear a voice.

But that we shouldn't be afraid, and that we should follow the voice. [This announcement must have occurred during a brief conversation on August 15th, since the hearing of the voice in a trance occurred at nine or ten on the night of August 16th.]

This seems to indicate that something unusual is going to happen, something that is going to bring one more new element in this succession of singular phenomena.

On the next day and at the same time as on the previous day, (that is, at nightfall) the Most Holy Virgin appeared to the four of us.

And for several minutes she was smiling very much.

And she didn't say anything to us.

After a few minutes, darkness came upon us, and we heard a voice call us.

Then Mari Cruz said, Tell us who you are; if you don't, we will go home.

While we were hearing the voice, it was very dark.

And we didn't see the Virgin.

But afterwards she came.

And it became very light.

And she said to us, Don't be afraid.

And she spoke to us for awhile.

And that night was the first night that she kissed us, one by one.

And then she left.[It is no surprise that the girl remembers the exact beginning of the marvelous gift of Our Lady's kiss . . . After that time the spectators knew when the end of the ecstasy would take place — when the visionaries held their faces in an attitude of giving and receiving kisses, which customarily preceded or followed a slow and very pious sign of the cross.]

This raises many questions. From where and from whom does the voice come? What is the reason for it? What purpose does it have? What relation exists between the voice and the Virgin's kisses to the frightened children? Is there some connection with the voice and the announcement made by Conchita on her return from Santander?

I admit that I am not able to give any answers to these questions. Even today this voice remains one of the enigmas of Garabandal.

Because it caused fear in the girls and also because of the darkness that surrounded them, together with the disappearance of the Virgin from view, one might say that it was a voice of the evil one, the voice of the world of darkness, the powers of evil, rabidly furious before this admirabile commercium that was being established between the heavens and the earth. But the words of the Virgin that Conchita relates in her diary, that we should not be afraid., and that we should follow the voice, seem to rule out this interpretation. Could it be that the girl is somewhat confused and is not able to express clearly such an obscure matter? Someday — we hope — a clarification of this mystery will come forth.

But we do have something very clear and also very marvelous from that memorable day: the kisses of the Mother that the Apparition begins to lavish on her children.

At that time a person, who was to soon become one of the best witnesses of what was taking place at Garabandal, came up to the village for the first time. Her name was Maria Herrero Garralda, daughter of the Marquese de Aledo, recently married to Enrique Gallardo Rodriguez-Acosta. Highly educated, good-hearted and deeply religious, she soon gained the confidence of the girls and meditated on the profound scope of the events.

For some time she was content to keep it to herself, revolving in her mind and piously pondering over what she had seen and heard. But later, when the anti-Garabandal storm began gathering due to the prelates at the Santander chancery, she wrote down in French for the Holy Office in Rome, a memorandum of what she herself had witnessed. She did this on the advice of a Belgian priest, Father Laffineur, [Died on Saturday. November 28th, 1970, in France, where he had lived and worked for many years. He was a main figure in the European Garabandal movement, signing many of his writings and letters with the pen name Doctor Bonance.] and to him she directed the prologue:

«I present this little work. Now that I reread it, it seems very poor, and the reason for this is that it is almost impossible to put in words the feelings of the soul.

I am only mentioning here some of the many — at least thirty — apparitions at which I participated at San Sebastian de Garabandal, beginning on the 17th of August, 1961. I will try to give an idea of those events, although it is impossible to express everything that 1 have seen and heard. I wish to start this work with something that Loli expressed to me on October 7th, 1962. If it could be known how she loves us, we would have no other solution but to love her very much too.

It was 2 o'clock in the afternoon when I came for the first time to San Sebastian de Garabandal. Accompanied by my sister I went into the bar or tavern belonging to Loli's father, Ceferino. The place was vacant since the apparitions ordinarily took place much later, toward nightfall. (I only know of two or three cases in which they occurred in the afternoon.)

We asked to eat, and Loli herself began serving us. This had to be the first time that she did this since she asked me to tell her about the knife and fork. At the time the little children in those families ate from the utensils without using silverware.

We had just finished eating when Loli came running in from outside, very short of breath, and said to her father, Papa, come right now since Jacinta is having an apparition.

We all ran toward the little square in the center of the village. There under the bright hot sun was Jacinta, walking very slowly, with her big doll in her hand, her head turned backwards, and that sublime expression on her face that cannot be described. Her family was following her in an attitude of great reverence. Maria, her mother, at one time wanted to take the doll from her hands; but Jacinta, absorbed in the vision, prevented her with a firm and brusque motion. Seconds later we saw the girl lift up her doll toward the vision, raising herself up as much as she could on the tips of her toes — aided by her two companions, Loli and Conchita, who held her up. Loli, who was as if overcome with joy on seeing her friend in a trance, took her by the arm and at that moment — with the rapidity of lightning — fell into ecstasy herself.

The two children, overwhelmed with joy, began to walk through the village, leaning against each other ... It was then that I heard for the first time that laugh of Loli in ecstasy that has always had such an effect on me. It was a laugh of glory, full of joy; but at the same time, quiet, reverent, mystical. It had nothing in common with this world, nor did it have the feeling of light-hearted laughter; it was as if permeated with the things of heaven.

The two listened and responded to the vision with a speech full of mystery, hardly perceptible.

We were running behind them when, near to the house that now belongs to Mercedes Salisachs, their expressions changed completely. And they began to shout out in a terrified voice, showing on their faces the greatest anxiety and fear. Who are you? Tell us. Who are you? They were like this for a few minutes that seemed interminable.

It was at that time that Maria, Jacinta's mother, told me confidentially, Yesterday they heard that strange voice for the first time. And they were very afraid, even though the Virgin had warned them, saying that they shouldn 't be afraid. It seems that the voice sounds from afar, as if it comes down from the mountains. It's like a hiss or a roar that cries, "Come , . . Come . . . Come . . . "»

Once more I ask myself what might be the hidden meaning of that voice, so powerful and unsettling.

It would not be surprising if it were the devil trying to disturb the children. In the life of many saints there are abundant proofs of what he is capable of doing — with all types of sensible means — to frighten and block the road of those who are on the right way toward God. However I have already indicated what seems to oppose such an interpretation.

Could it then be understood that such a voice might be coming from the Most High? On a few occasions, Scripture has exalted the creative power and force of the voice of Yahveh, the Lord, especially in Psalm 28:

The Voice of the Lord is in power;

The Voice of the Lord in magnificence.

The Voice of the Lord shatters the cedars...

The Voice of the Lord brings forth flames of fire.

The Voice of the Lord shakes the desert...

But if the strange voice that came down from the mountains onto Garabandal proceeded from the Most High, why did it disturb the girls this way, without declaring who it was? Does it have a secret purpose which only later will be revealed?

In this case, perhaps we can attritube to this voice a certain apocalyptic [Apocalypse — Revelations — is the name of the last book of Sacred Scripture. It is extremely difficult to interpret. By means of figures, visions, and symbols, it gives the mysterious course of the work of Christ on earth and His final triumph in order to strengthen us for tribulation with the security that we are not alone, and that the Hand of God holds a firm grip on the progression of events.] sign, like the blast of trumpets in the 8th chapter of this unexplained book when the action of heaven will accelerate its pace and deploy itself against the power of the anti-Christ of this world and of the abyss. And still more could the voice be related to that triple Woe, woe, woe, which will be poured out upon a mankind so wrapped up in the things of the world. [And I beheld, and heard the voice of an eagle flying through the midst of heaven, shouting: Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth: because of the remaining voices of the three angels who have yet to sound their trumpets.(Apocalypse 8:13) St. Jerome's Latin vulgate gives these statements of the eagle like this, Vae, Vae, vae!]