BOOK 3 Chapter 12
EPILOGUE
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


*    *    *

    Finally coming to the end of this long endeavor, I feel a mixture of joy and liberation. Joy, in thinking that I have done a good work. Liberation, in not having the pressure to finish this work quickly.

    After great effort and innumerable hours of work, revising papers and putting in order the mountains of information, it seems that I have succeeded in reconstructing the events and the climate of Garabandal during the apparitions, so that I can offer its first history to persons of good will.

*    *    *
    The history of Garabandal, as it concerns the seers and those around them, has not been, nor is it now, completely angelic like Lourdes and Fatima.

    Because of this, I find Garabandal to be more in measure with the History of Salvation, more in line with the Church itself, where the most beautiful and exalted interventions of God have been continually intermixed with lamentable and repeated human miseries, with the results that we know.

    The full picture of Garabandal is disconcerting: on the one hand it offers abundant proofs so that many might find its truth, and on the other hand, it leaves motives for others to remain in their doubt and disbelief.

    I believe in the supernatural authenticity of Garabandal, taken as a whole. But not everything offers the same guarantee of truth.

    A descending scale of credibility can be noticed:

1) The facts -----the phenomena that were definite facts and could be proven and were proven from observation by irreproachable witnesses.
2) The joint statements ----- the statements or declarations in which the visionaries agreed.
3) The individual statements ----- the statements or predictions due to one visionary alone.

    In the last case, it is necessary to proceed with great caution and discretion; since, unfortunately, not all — or even a single one — of the seers have shown themselves to be completely trustworthy.

*     *     *
    It was seen that on Saturday, November 13th, 1965, the course of the phenomena closed at Garabandal. From that date, nothing has occurred.

    But here a question comes up: Since November 13th, has Garabandal completely ended?

    Or does it remain only temporarily interrupted?

    My personal impression is that a simple intermission is taking place, since the evidence shows that Garabandal has not concluded. An interlude has come, as in a dramatic play, that for some purpose leaves things abruptly interrupted, suspended . . .

    Garabandal is an event of enormous proportion, which is unfolding in three stages:
• The first stage, with a personal and local imprint: the time of marvels and astounding communications; the time already experienced, which ended on November 13th.
• A second stage, of intermission, with matters suspended: a period of pruning and purification. This is what we are experiencing now, with its disillusions, expectations, falling away.
• A third stage, which we await, that will bring to light many things and fulfill the great prophecies of universal reach: the Warning, the Miracle, the Chastisement.
*    *    *
    It seems beyond doubt that what really happened at Garabandal, what we should see across the vast maze of detail, is a very careful intervention by God to aid us in these difficult hours for the Church and the world.

    With such a purpose, God has placed in front of us:

• A new Marian Epiphany.
• A call for greater devotion to the Eucharist.
• A prediction of approaching eschatological times.
    Why the first? Because it could well be that Mary is our last recourse for salvation ... In Garabandal, she has manifested herself to us — she has given herself — above all, as Our Mother.

    Why the second? Because the reality of the actual presence of the Lord among us is the last thing that we can allow to be neglected in the Church. And this is precisely what has started to happen, and what is continuing to happen.

    Why the third? Because the last times can be already at the door. We should not be oblivious or forgetful of what we repeat in the Credo: And He will come again in glory, since without the inflaming emotions of hope, religion will not keep burning in the hearts of men.

*    *    *
    Yes, we cannot put the final conclusion out of our minds.

    "The biblical writings revolve around a theological drama that unfolds throughout history and reflects the plan of salvation from a God Who constantly seeks out mankind to transform it. From the first chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of the Apocalypse can be seen the silent struggle by forces fighting for the hearts of men. Man, wrongly exercising his free will and trying to assert his autonomy, chooses to live separated from God, Besides this, the power of evil seems to dominate humanity, seeking to draw it from its natural orbit: the God of Creation, Who directs the world and the march of history." (M. Garcia Cordero, Biblical Dilemmas)

    Eschatology is the word used to refer to the final act in the great drama of our salvation.

    And it might be asked if Garabandal does not have an eschatological purpose.

    There are many things in it that put before us the last times and alert us to them:

• The presence and prominent activity of the Archangel St. Michael, who appears in the Apocalypse as the Angel of the last combat. [One last detail in this history that appears to be unending . . . Recently residing in the United States, Loli had been living the meaning of the locution of 1965 «In the future, if I do not appear to you again, it is that your hour has come to suffer.» In October of 1977 she had a few happy vacation days during a brief stay in Spain in her home country of Santander. Maria Herrero de Gallardo spent some time with her and wrote me on the 30th of that October:
    «The other day, while taking food to Loli that she liked very much and hadn't tasted for years, she told me very interesting things: about the pope . . . about Adam (that we didn't descend from a monkey, or by evolution, or from any other animal, but from a perfect man, Adam). She told us about a dream that she had recently: the devil, horrible, trying to conquer the world ... As Loli cried out, calling to St. Michael, he appeared dressed as a warrior, not as the girl had seen him in Garabandal. He waved a great sword and began battle against Satan . . . In connection with this, she told us how the devil, during the apparitions, had twice burned part of the scapulars that they were wearing ...»
    What believer in God could doubt the reality of the devil and his world of darkness? And he is now laboring as never before; not just for partial victory, but to dominate completely this world in which God has so loved us, his human creatures.
    It is the great hour for the leader of the celestial army. (Apoc. 12: 7-8) Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle . . .]
• The firm declaration in the message of June 18th, 1965: You are in the last warnings.
• The trilogy of the Warning — the Miracle — the Chastisement, whose characteristics do not permit them to be inserted as ordinary pages in the works of God.
• The repeated, extremely compromising affirmation that there remain only three Popes, and then the end of the times.

    Possibly, Garabandal has come to repeat to us, Christians of these last times, what the Christians of the early times said for greeting and encouragement: Maran Atha! The Lord returns!

    We await.

    And as the hour draws near for the realization of Garabandal, let us repeat without ceasing what is said on the feast of Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace:

On our knees, let us adore
Christ the Savior,
Who wants all good things
to come to us thru Mary.

NEXT Chapter 12b.    .     Epilogue 1)  The Messages
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