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Home , Amparo Cuevas, Life Before His Eyes, Maria Valtorta, Our Lady of Banneux, Our Lady of Laus

Jacques Cabaud

Is Mary Appearing Today ?

I Is Mary Appearing Today? by Jacques Cabaud Copyright © 2018 by Jacques Cabaud Designed by James Kent Ridley Published by Goodbooks Media Printed in the U.S.A.

ISBN-13: 978-1717137470 ISBN-10: 1717137474

Quodcumque dixerit vobis facite. Do whatever he tells you. Jn 2:5

Hic est Filius meus dilectus in quo mihi bene conplacuit ipsum audite. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. Mt. 17:5

3453 Aransas Corpus Christi, Texas, 78411 www.goodbookmedia.com II Dilectissimae filiae meae

III ACKNOWLEDGEMENT *****------From En faveur des apparitions mariales contemporaines (Résiac, Montsûrs, 2003) came the nucleus from which Is Mary Appearing Today? evolved, first as the initial English version (Salvador Mundi Communications, Combermere, Canada, 2012). The latter. however, was as short-lived as what is beautiful. A new beginning had to be made. Progress in research warranted many additions. Most helpful have been Meaney, and especially Carol Mills-Nichol and Marie Cabaud-Meaney, who read the manuscript and edited the text. In the present edition, Mr. James Ridley is responsible for what meets the eye: layout, programming, most of the illustrations, and much more, God bless him!

IV When heaven speaks, should we not listen?

" ... our decisive criteria is not to confuse the judgment bearing on the truth of the [apparitions] with [their] spiritual fruits." Cardinal Ratzinger

This is the book of a true son of the Church. If some formulations are hazardous, or some mistakes were made, I regret them. Far from superfluous disputes, I have tried to foster a spirit of discernment ...

"If these were silent, the very stones would cry out."

In our times of little Faith, tells us: "Hearken to my Mother: do whatever she tells you."

V TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ...... 1 FIRST PART...... 19 I Revelatio sufficit: ...... 21 is enough II Revelatio sufficit (bis): ...... 25 Revelation is enough (bis) III Gamaliel dicit: ...... 27 Thus speaks Gamaliel IV Gamaliel (bis), atque Maria, Mater desolata: ...... 31 Gamaliel (bis), and Mary, forsaken Mother V Beelzebub vincit: ...... 41 Beelzebub wins out VI Deus non minatur: ...... 47 God does not utter threats VII Malus suasor est timor: ...... 57 Fear is a bad counselor VIII De minimalismo: ...... 67 On minimalism IX Charismatici sunt schismatici: ...... 69 Charismatics are potential schismatics X Dona Dei: ...... 73 God's gifts XI Sive rationalismus, sive superstitio: ...... 75 Either rationalism or superstition XII Œconomia salutis: ...... 77 The plan of salvation

SECOND PART ...... 81 XIII Regina prophetarum: ...... 83 Queen of prophets XIV De ratione divina: ...... 93 Concerning God's designs XV Tempus Antechristi: ...... 105 The Time of the Antichrist XVI Arcus cælestis: ...... 113 The Rainbow

VI XVII Ut non intellegant: ...... 115 So that they do not understand XVIII Via parvula: ...... 123 The little way XIX De more pharisaico: ...... 127 On pharisaism XX Post hoc, ergo propter hoc: ...... 135 After this, therefore, because of this XXI De sanationibus: ...... 143 Concerning miraculous cures XXII De utilitate visionum: ...... 149 On the usefulness of apparitions XXIII Pecunia falsa expellit bonam: ...... 151 Bad money drives out the good. XXIV Principatus rationis: ...... 157 The primacy of reason XXV De Maria nunquam satis: ...... 161 One can never insist too much on the greatness of Mary XXVI De gloriæ Mariæ: ...... 165 Concerning Mary's glory XXVII Deus abconditus sive de absentia Dei: ...... 167 The hidden God or of God 's absence XXVIII Mater et Magistra: ...... 169 Mary, Mother and Teacher XXIX Episcopus magister fidelium: ...... 175 The bishop has authority over the faithful XXX In absentia nostra: ...... 181 In our absence XXXI Lex ecclesiæ: ...... 183 The law of the Church

THIRD PART ...... 187 XXXII In dubio: ...... 189 In case of doubt, abstain! XXXIII "Distinguo ": ...... 195 Let us distinguish XXXIV Pro quibus sunt apparitiones?: ...... 199 For whom are the apparitions? XXXV In nomine Œcumenismi: ...... 203 In the name of Ecumenism

VII XXXV Vetera præferanda sunt: ...... 207 What is old is preferable XXXVII Invisibilia præferanda sunt: ...... 215 What is invisible is preferable XXXVIII Virginem tactilem esse non est credendum: ...... 231 It is unbelievable that the can be touched XXXIX Sunt miracula credenda?: ...... 235 Are miracles believable? XL Præteritum mensura presentis: ...... 241 The past is the measure of the present XLI Credo quia absurdum: ...... 247 I believe because it is absurd XLII De reditu Christi: ...... 251 Concerning the return of Christ XLIII De magisterio ordinario: ...... 263 Concerning the ordinary magisterium XLIV De loco qui appelatur Medjugorje: ...... 275 Concerning Medjugorje XLV Garrulitas res humana: ...... 279 Talkativeness is a human weakness

CONCLUSION ...... 287 APPENDIX ...... 293

XLVI "Id non mihi opus est" atque de feminismo: ...... 295 "I do not need to"and concerning feminism XLVII De feminismo (bis): ...... 307 Concerning feminism (bis) XLVIII De Innocentibus: ...... 315 Concerning the Innocents XLIX In praxi: ...... 319 In practice L Non patet de supernaturalitate: ...... 325 Supernaturality not established LI Iudæi: ...... 331 "Salvation must come from the Jews" Index ...... 333

Illustrations ...... 340

VIII As the reader will notice, the Latin titles have been freely translated. The translation will be repeated at the start of each chapter, on top of the page. Was not Latin maintained as the language of the liturgy by Vatican II? It was chosen here because of its density and power of suggestion, as a hommage to its past role, and as perhaps also the expression of a wish for its return. Keats was right: ‘’A thing of beauty is a joy forever”, even though my own attempts at resurrecting a dead language are probably more awkward than felicitous. Furthermore, for modern concepts such as minimalism, charismatics, rationalism, ecumenism, millenarianism, feminism, “Church Latin” was my only resource.

IX The by Maurice Denis

X THE PROPER OBJECT OF SUPERNATURAL FAITH INTRODUCTION

rivate are not the proper object of supernatural faith, said Blessed Innocent XI.1 It is an established fact, however, that they have not only led countlessP unbelievers to faith, but also revitalized the lukewarm religion of many churchgoers. At times they have even shaped history, if we are to give credence to Fatima and to its final outcome, the defeat of communism. How should the average Christian react, however, to a report that the Virgin is presently appearing here or there? Those who have had no trouble relating favourably to apparitions in the past are somewhat at a loss concerning Medjugorje, Schio or Manduria, and all those places where charismatic events are now occurring. Current apparitions create concern. What was, is left to the better judgment of the Church. What is, seems a riddle shrouded in a mystery. For the responsible authority, in this case the local bishop, will not recognize the supernatural character of the events taking place in his diocese until they have ceased. Judging by the light of past or present performance, he will issue a document declaring that what the seers are seeing, what the onlookers are witnessing, what the messages being transmitted are stating, do not have a supernatural character, or, in most cases, to put it more mildly, that the supernatural character of these events is not established. Thus, properly warned, the faithful are left to their own devices, because, since Vatican II and Paul VI, they are entitled to pray wherever they please, as long as scandal is avoided. In time, the same authority which had issued the initial negative statement, usually in the person of a new bishop, might recognize belatedly what countless faithful have known all along: that places of apparitions are sources of grace favoured by countless blessings, in the form of conversions, miraculous cures and fervent prayer. On the other hand, the bishop may prefer not to commit himself in any way, leaving to the initial statement its full force, while treating the crowds of pilgrims either with "benign neglect", or with unofficial or quasiofficial support. But all this is a long process. In the meantime, when reports of apparitions come to the ears of

1 Cf. article no. 2121 in the Denzinger-Schönmetzer

1 FATHER GEMELLI & PADRE PIO faithful Christians, what are they to do? Let us hope that the following considerations, reflecting the author's experience and study, will be of some help. Let me stress that I am not, in the name of the “good fruit” obtained in places of apparitions, impugning the sacred apostleship and authority of bishops, whose functions are irreplaceable, and whose task is delicate. This is a phenomenological study, not a methodical account of the complexities of canon law. And while we are dealing with logic and common sense, we are also learning from the lessons of history. Father Gemelli, who was a recognized authority on mystical matters in his day, showed a remarkable lack of expertise in the case of Padre Pio. On the basis of a brief encounter, he wrote disparagingly about him, thus hindering the effectiveness of that ’s apostolate. Scholarship and common sense only too often

St. Padre Pio of Pietreicina 1887-1968

2 INCREASING CHARISMATA part company. Attending the holy friar’s mass, confessing one’s sins to him, as happened to me, meeting his Christ-like glance, was a supernatural experience in itself. It is not that Father Gemelli, prejudiced as he was, did not have reasons a-plenty for countering the obvious. He has had many followers in these matters, where science serves to screen out conscience, even if this does not necessarily imply bad faith. On the contrary, there is no shortage of arguments tending to disprove a supernaturality which, to the uncommitted beholder, may appear convincing enough. But are these arguments plausible, cogent or pertinent? Do they apply to the case at hand? How reliable are they? This is the analysis I am attempting. Cardinal Ottaviani, when he was head of the Holy Office, saw to it that practically no apparitions of the Virgin were “approved”. In Germany, in the past two hundred years, many apparitions have occurred, which might have been eventually proven to be as genuine as those in or in Belgium, but none have been formally recognized, even though many have been eventually “tolerated”. Was the German Catholic hierarchy trying to placate the Lutheran divines? Does logic, therefore, dictate because Revelation came to its fulfillment and end in Jesus Christ, that apparitions are, therefore, null and void?... We cannot impose upon Heaven any schema of our own. If the Virgin chooses to appear more frequently in the course of the twentieth century than in all of the previous centuries combined, who are we to find fault with her? Let us not forget that far more humans were on earth in the twentieth century than in several previous centuries together. Before St. Francis, there is no record of any stigmatist. In this generation alone, there are men and women stigmatists by the dozen. This imbalance, I believe, is God’s doing. I do not think we have to search long before we can assign a plausible reason for it. Given our massacre of the unborn, never has the world been more in need of redemption than today. Christ is showing his scars in living tissue to convince our doubting Thomases, just as the Virgin is multiplying her appeals to prayer, penance, and

3 MARIAN APPARITIONS conversion. Time has become short. Of course, time has always been short. According to past standards, however, Our Lady seems to be overdoing it.2 But it is She who sets the standards. If, when She appears, conversions occur, we do not have to search long for proofs of authenticity. A conversion, after all, is already the greatest miracle. Some critics find fault with what Mary has said in her early apparitions at Medjugorje. But how can we account for the countless number of confessions heard there daily? As the late

2 It does seem that Marian apparitions have been more numerous in the twentieth century, and especially in the latter half, than in the entire course of the nineteen preceding centuries. Two reasons may be given for this, first, because of the instantaneous transmission of news today, and second, because the total world population in the last hundred years has been far greater than in any previous century (a). Whatever the reason, there has been an exponential increase in Heavenly manifestations, whether of apparitions or of other charisms, such as signs in the sky, stigmata, statues weeping real tears or tears of blood, holy images oozing scented oil endowed with curative properties, etc. When more humans are on earth, God and His intervene more often since the need is greater. Similarly, in our contemporary world more blood has been shed in the defence of the Faith than in the nineteen preceding centuries. There were 27,000,000 Christian in the twentieth century; those of all previous times, so far as they can be counted, numbered 13,000,000. Could there be a link between the merits of saints and these unequivocal signs of the supernatural? With our unlimited facilities for the diffusion of news, however, the present muting of information concerning Marian apparitions among the faithful should be considered a scandal, at a time when adolescents, with their youthful exuberance and unlimited enthusiasm for novelty, could be channeled towards these charismata-filled events, instead of being delivered to the insidious calls of the entertainment industry, the spread of drugs, the chimeras of spiritism, esotericism, occultism and the ersatz spirituality offered by sects and eastern religions. (a) According to Jörg Müller, there have been more than 400 places of Marian apparitions in the twentieth century: Warum erscheint Maria so oft? -Verlag, St Andrä-Wördern, Austria, 1999, on the cover.

4 MAMMA ROSA Cardinal Siri once said, “I do not know if the Virgin appears at Medjugorje, but I do know that countless people who have never set foot in church come back from Medjugorje as devout, practicing believers.” Each apparition seems to contain something which will shock the learned. (“I speak in parables so that hearing, they do not understand.”) At Lourdes, Bernadette once “ate grass” and smeared her face with mud. On that occasion, the skeptics had a field day. If the Mother of God is calling for prayer through the mouth of a visionary in a specific place, however, who am I to think that this is no concern of mine? What is it that draws crowds to places of apparitions? Is it to recite the ? If being there is an incentive to say our beads, would it be appropriate to comment that “these were better left unsaid”? We can all vouch for the fact that in the humdrum of current life we are hardly addicted to devotional exercises. But what can equal the piety aroused in our hearts at these open-air shrines, when we are not distracted from the unum necessarium, and we can measure time with prayer. The conviction that Mary is present is such a solace to the soul that it is borne heavenwards as if to meet her. Can we neglect her invitation if we hear she has come to us, either in our neighbourhood, or where we can join her? Unfortunately, in more than nine out of ten cases, the local Bishop will not be supportive. Consider, for example, what happened at San Damiano, close to Piacenza in , in the 1960’s and 70’s. It started with the miraculous cure of Mamma Rosa Quattrini from a longlasting peritonitis resulting from a pregnancy she had, against medical advice, refused to end with an abortion. Despite her piety, she was such a simple soul that she could not recite unaided the mysteries of the rosary in their proper order. The words of the Apostle are thus confirmed: “The foolish things in the world has God chosen to put to shame the ‘wise”’ (1 Cor 1: 27). Imagine the surprise of the parish-priest when she started having “prophetic” dreams: “I dreamt our church was so full that half of the faithful could not find place inside.” And then she saw the Virgin. The priest knew her too well to think she was trying to deceive or that she was delusional, so he took her to see the bishop of Piacenza. But the latter refused to receive her for more than a few minutes and, without conducting a formal enquiry, chose to disregard Heaven’s call. 5 "THE HEAVENLY MOTHER SAYS" Luckily for the pilgrims who were arriving, he delayed taking drastic action in the beginning. But over the years his patience gave out and his main concern became that of discouraging people from coming to San Damiano. Then the parish priest was sent away, the village was deprived of its daily Mass, Mamma Rosa was forbidden to receive the blessed Virgin in public, speak with the pilgrims or communicate the messages she received. She obeyed her bishop, even though he prevented her from building a home for the sick and aged with the donations she had received.

Mamma Rosa Quattrini 1909-1981 Speaking to Mamma Rosa, I was impressed by her intellectual acuteness, even before she uttered, as she was about to answer my questions: “the heavenly Mother says.... “ It seemed that inspiration had more to do with what she told me than mere intuition. But this was before she stopped speaking to the pilgrims on the bishop’s orders. This instruction, which turned her into a semi-recluse, was all the more regrettable in that Mamma Rosa had also been miraculously cured, towards the beginning of the apparitions, of the intellectual handicap described in the previous paragraph. With her innate warmth and kindness, she had become perfectly capable, even without heavenly 6 SAN DAMIANO inspiration, of being of good counsel to the troubled souls who consulted her, not to mention the cases where the Virgin herself suggested the answer! His Excellency of Piacenza even wrote to all the bishops of Europe to ask them to forbid their faithful from coming to San Damiano. Had it not been for the fruits of conversion and other supernatural signs, this wondrous place would have at long last fallen into oblivion.3 Nonetheless, it is doubtful that opposition can serve the purpose of enhancing the effectiveness of God’s merciful plans. Did not the warn at Fatima that the arrest of the visionaries by the police on a day she was to appear would have as a consequence that the announced miracle [of the sun] would be less spectacular than foreseen? It is ill-advised

3 How could one declare that ‘nothing supernatural’ was taking place?” asks Father René Laurentin.“During her whole life, [Mamma Rosa] has placed her trust in the supernatural and in . Those who have researched this matter without prejudice have discovered, by the tens and hundreds, cures that have brought about the conversion of physicians of many nationalities, conversions and vocations born from the pilgrimage... Systematic criticism of apparitions extinguishes the Spirit, instead of discerning it.” Multiplication des apparitions de la Vierge aujourd’hui: Arthème Fayard, Paris, 1995, p. 27. Speaking of vocations, a French priest, belonging to the Community of St. John, recently testified: “It is here at San Damiano, that at the age of 36, I first experienced the call to the priesthood, and I can certify that in my community, 60 priests first heard here their call to holy orders.” Stella Maris, Switzerland, February 2007, p. 9. The most contested but perhaps the most effective agent of conviction for the crowds that streamed to San Damiano were the pictures showing a cross of light in the sky. These shots of the sun- which, according to opthalmologists, entail a serious risk of permanent retinal damage for the photographers - produced photos which did not correspond to the laws of refraction in the lens, as might have been expected, since the stem or the arm of the sacred emblem was not superimposed on whatever branch or cable happened to be in the foreground, but was screened by it and reappeared beyond. What is most astonishing, however, is less the scepticism of competent Church authorities than the fact that people from all over Europe flocked there. No serious investigation was ever made, no file was opened, no 7 ILL-WILL FINDS ESCAPE-CLAUSES to assume that human negativism cannot affect the outcome of divine interventions. Even in such extraordinary cases, our , whether exercised individually or collectively, plays a part. We are asked to give some kind of assent to heavenly manifestations. True, ill-will only too often suggests all kinds of escape-clauses to prevent commitment. And reason is most resourceful when it comes to formulating arguments against the authenticity of apparitions not yet hallowed by tradition. For such unforgettable events, the present moment is an unforgivable blemish. My claim, based on experience, is that many a doubter, albeit in good faith, will readily resort to a sophism, unaware of its inherent irrationality. Because, in fact, distrust comes first, and arguments come to mind later to justify a scepticism which, groundless in its source, tries to overcome this initial deficiency by displaying its resourcefulness. A variegated collection of such seemingly unanswerable proofs of the non- authenticity of Marian apparitions have been assembled here. I will give expression to this voice of contradiction before I show that it should not sway our own well-established convictions. It is ill-advised to think that our doubting the supernatural is the best means leading to a deeper faith. Even though belief in the authenticity of Marian apparitions cannot be the object of supernatural faith, it can often reinforce that very theological virtue which it does not, by itself alone, call for. A paradox indeed, but such are the ways of grace. In summary, 50 kinds of arguments, in as many chapters - for which I have provided headings in Latin - are generally marshaled against Marian apparitions whenever they occur. Every expression of disbelief will have its time in court before it is found to be wanting. In this way, for every con I will oppose a pro, and every type of objection will be met. Even though some overlapping of material is inevitable, systematic study conducted. In the absence of documents established at the time the events took place, a hoped-for reversal of the original negative decision has been rendered all the more difficult. Should a phenomenon of this magnitude be of such negligible import that responsible men can assume its benefits will be forgotten as time goes by? Must it be considered a non-event? San Damiano is doubtless an exceptional case, but it illustrates as none other the unnecessary but numerous conflicts which, according to Karl Rahner, oppose what is “institutional” to what is “charismatic.”

8 HOW TO READ THIS BOOK each chapter has its own theme:4

4 Needless to say, the chapters are grouped according to a certain logic. In the first part, chapters 1 to 12, the author responds to the most often formulated arguments against the authenticity of contemporary Marian apparitions and their usefulness. In the next section, that is, from chapters 13 to 31, he deals with more general considerations and the relationship between these apparitions and the position of the Church and the world. Lastly, in the third part (chapters 32 to 45), he returns to his initial purpose, which is that of refuting the arguments more commonly directed against the authenticity or the usefulness of contemporary Marian apparitions. The pattern is always the same: first comes the objection, then its refutation. As for the chapters in the appendix (nos 46-48), they deal with interesting complementary issues. Chapter 49 draws practical conclusions... Within each of these sections, chapters are organized according to an order which is not always obvious, except for chapters 1-7, 13-16, 25- 28, 29-31, 36-41, 42-43 and 46-48, which are thematically related. At other times, the connection is not clear. However the reader who does not follow the numerical order will not feel lost. May I add that an objection, when it is deep-rooted, takes on a repetitive character, with the result that the refutation may sometimes appear reiterative. And since erroneous opinions are more multifarious than sane ideas, familiar concepts keep popping up with a certain frequency. (But this belongs to the controversial nature of our subject). How comprehensive can such a book as this be when contemporary apparitions are so numerous? I have had to restrict myself to those places with which I was very familiar, either because I was there in person, or because of the available data. My purpose was not to establish an exhaustive list - which would have been impossible anyway - but to mention those Marian apparitions of whose authenticity I am personally convinced. "The Virgin has revealed to Renato Baron of Schio in Italy that she was appearing presently in more than 200 places in the world." Paul Bouchard: Le règne de Dieu sur terre! Spirimedia, Chertsey, Québec, 1994, p. 156. Titles of chapters have been chosen for their convenience, either because they epitomize the contra argument, or because they reflect the matter at hand. Thus a title such as "Charismatici sunt schismatici" (chap. 9) does not express the author's point of view, while another one, such as "De Maria nunquam satis", does (chap. 25). 9 PADRE PIO

10 FRUITS & SIGNS The apparitions we shall deal with are those whose "fruits" are obvious and remind us of those "signs" which left Capharnaum indifferent, when Christ said "These very works that I do, bear witness to me" (Jn 5: 36- 37). When Mary shows herself, miracles of grace occur. Would that they were not perceived as being negligible! Let us remember that "if the very works" of our Lord "have borne witness that the Father has sent him", it should be said that the "works" of the Virgin today testify that the Son has sent her. Wondrous cures, unexpected conversions, spiritual edification are gifts of Heaven. If in his day, Christ commissioned apostles and disciples to act in his name, He now relies on Mary to remind us that the "Kingdom of God is near". And this is what she does with incomparable zeal. And yet her interventions are contested. Are they real? Could their report be based on delusions? Can the supernatural character of what seems at first unexplainable be assumed to be genuine? As long as the authenticity of Marian apparitions has not been (officially and canonically) established, critics feel that their scepticism is legitimate. To provide a basis for their negativism they come up with arguments which at face-value may deter would-be pilgrims from answering the invitation of Mary. Our purpose, therefore, is to debunk the criticisms one hears all too often, for they are repeated afresh for every new apparition.5

5 One may ask why these fallacious arguments are so successful. One hears them repeated again and again, even when they have already been refuted. To this question, Claude Tresmontant - even if it is in another context - provides us with the following answer: "Logical thought is [such] a tiresome process" that it is mostly honoured through neglect. Les métaphysiques principales: O.E.I.L., Paris, 1990,p. 74. As for the criteria of authenticity followed by episcopal commissions, they will be found in a note in chapter 23 entitled Pecunia falsa expellit bonam. The list of these criteria is exhaustive enough and the terms are so obvious that they cannot be disputed. They are not, however, readily accessible to all since they entail abundant documentation and time-consuming verifications. That is why these official commissions are indispensable and irreplaceable. However, experts in spirituality are not usually included among their members. This is unfortunate, since a "teacher in Israel" should be cognizant in matters spiritual, as Christ said to Nicodemus, in whom, as the Gospel shows, goodwill was not lacking (Jn 3: 10).

11 EXPERTISE BASED ON HEARSAY It is not the various apparitions that we will review, however, but the objections to which they give rise that we will scrutinize. In short, we will weigh the validity of the considerations currently brought forward, discriminating between reality and rumour, facts and fiction. The issues at hand are more than plentiful. If truth is one and the data incontrovertible, nonetheless, error is widespread and mistakes are manifold. Alas, the process of demythologizing attempted by misguided exegetes on the life of Jesus has also its counterpart in the devious or erroneous practices perpetrated by many commentators on present day Marian apparitions.6

6 A typical example of the process of "debunking" applied to Marian apparitions is the book written by two religious brothers, Michel de la Trinité and Augustin du Saint Sauveur: Medjugorje en toute vérité selon le discernement des esprits, La Contre-Réforme Catholique, 1991, 520 pages: a most convincing work indeed at first reading, but afflicted by a defect disqualifying it for this kind of study, since its authors admit they have not set foot in Medjugorje. How can one pass judgment on facts known second hand? At a time when loss of faith is a mass phenomenon, should one not encourage the opposite process whenever and wherever it occurs? Can speculation be preferred to experience when first-hand evidence is available? Does good theology demand that facts be studied in abstracto? "I know experts," writes Father René Laurentin, " ... who [are] imbued with the following principle, that to be objective, judgment must shun any participation. But with mysticism, as with music, the quality of the individual's perception and his connaturality with the subject is essential to his judgment." 10 années d'apparitions ... Dernières nouvelles de Medjugorje no. 10: O.E.I.L., Paris, 1999, p. 49. Indeed, why rely on information supplied by a third party when one could gather it oneself? How can one decide on the nature of a marvellous event which one refuses to witness in person? As long as the bishop of Civitavecchia relied on rumors, even substantiated by newspaper articles and oral reports, he disbelieved in the tears of blood shed by the statue of the Virgin brought back by pilgrims from Medjugorje. No sooner had he borrowed the effigy, however, and brought it to his own house, that he saw with his very own eyes what he would not have otherwise been willing to admit. Conviction is a personal matter which arises from personal involvement. Abstention encourages prejudice.

12 RENATO BARON There is no way out. Objective truth exists, and nothing less than truth deserves our un-restricted time and effort. Truth alone shall free us from prejudice. Let us consider Schio, a place of recent apparitions with which it is difficult to find fault. This town, nestled at the foot of the Alps 50 kilometers East of Verona was already hallowed by the virtues of St. Bakhita, a liberated African slave of the twentieth century. Had this holy nun any intimation that it would be further celebrated by the visions of Renato Baron? She had come to his aid when he was a little boy, alleviating the pain he suffered from a dental cavity by filling it with a crumb of bread. When he was eight, Renato was drawn to a statue of the Virgin and Child that the Capuchin Fathers had installed in their Church. No less significant was his childish zeal in cleaning and caring for the neglected neighbourhood sanctuary of San Martino d’Asta. His dismay was great, however, when in 1951 the beautiful Madonna of his childhood was relegated to the sacristy to make room for a Fatima Virgin. “Wouldn’t the chapel of San Martino be a more suitable haven for the displaced statue?” he asked the Capuchin Fathers. To discourage him, the priests told him that the effigy was too costly for such a liberal gesture. But Renato would not be discouraged. Money could be earned and so he took a during the summer holidays. When he offered cash for the statue the Capuchin Fathers, moved by his good intentions, relented,

A comparison between the positive attitude of priests who hear the confessions of converts at a place of apparitions and the negative opinion of officials in chancelleries who remain cloistered in their offices, should soon convince us that there is something wrong with the method that is only too often followed in such cases... The first group of priests has an empirical knowledge of that about which the second group is speculating in general terms. And before an agreement can be reached between these two parties, twenty to thirty years - or even more - may have passed. Thus, the apparitions of "Our Lady of all Nations" (1945- 59) of Amsterdam, which were for so long considered, even at Rome, as of diabolical origin, have only recently been authenticated by the local bishop because of the good fruits he has observed. We have to conclude with Father Laurentin that "apparitions are the least studied sector of all Theology, the most open to confusion and an approach based on trial and error, at the same time as they are the sector where discernment is the most difficult." Cf Stella Maris, Sept. 2002, p. 12.

13 THE VIRGIN OF SCHIO deciding to entrust it to him for one month - May of 1952. Overjoyed, Renato and a group of friends brought the Madonna ceremoniously to San Martino, where it was enthroned on the altar under the marble baldaquin. On the 31st of May, as its “processional return” to the Capuchin Fathers had been readied, such a violent storm broke out that the journey became impossible. A later date was set, and then a later one, until a whole year had passed. At the end of May 1953, as everything had been readied, a cloudburst no less violent than the first again prevented the return. When the same scenario repeated itself on May 31, 1954, the Capuchin Fathers “got the message” and allowed the Virgin to remain. Renato had her, so to speak, all for himself at St. Martino, where he would pray the rosary. However, in April 1960, technicians of the Department of Fine Arts, inspecting the Church, objected to the modern statue which was obstructing the fifteenth century fresco in the background. Renato obligingly moved the Virgin onto a pedestal to the right. This was a timely gesture, for that very night, the heavy marble baldaquin fell down, crushing the altar. Thus preserved, the Virgin of San Martino was going to play a decisive role in the life of her young devotee. In the meantime, Renato married in 1958 and was elected a member of the town council, an office which he held until 1985. He earned his keep, however, modestly, as a toll-collector at the neighbouring autostrada. And then, on ·the night of March 23, 1985, he saw the Madonna in a dream. She said to him: “Why don’t you come to San Martino? I have to speak to you... “ Since dreams are convincing only as long as they last, Renato waited two days before complying. When he started to pray, however, the statue came to life before his eyes and the Virgin said: “I waited for you yesterday... From now on, I will be coming here always, because I have many things to tell you, and then... you will write... “ Far from rejoicing, Renato feared that he had lost his mind. But on the following day the Virgin reassured him and reaffirmed that he had a mission to fulfill. On April 2, as he was reciting the , when he reached the words, “the fruit of your womb, Jesus”, the Virgin interrupted him and said: “From now on, you will say: “the fruit of your heart, Jesus.” And the next day, she asked him to note down in writing “all of what she wants to remind the world”. At Mary’s request, he took the parish-priest into his confidence. Sceptical at first, the priest showed him the passage from the Book of Kings in which the Lord says to : “Go forth from the cave because

14 "I AM THE QUEEN OF LOVE" I must speak to you” (1 K 19: 11). The next day, at San Martino, Renato heard the Virgin say: “Go to the sacristy, take a book, and place it on the altar, then read.” Of the fifty books that were there, Renato picked up the first one, opened it at random and fell precisely on the passage which announces the well-known theophany: “Go forth from the cave because I must speak to you.” 7 On June 18 the Virgin assured Renata that success was at hand: “A day will come when many shall pray in this church and I will bless them and they will be entrusted to the Father.” On November 24, with 24 members, a prayer group met for the first time. But the question was, “Under what title shall we call the Virgin of the apparitions?” On November 28, the answer came: “I am the Queen of Love”. And her urgent plea was: “Pray, and encourage prayer.” The Capuchin Fathers, having agreed to bring the Holy to San Martino, Renato bought a tabernacle, in which our Lord was solemnly enshrined. On that very evening, the Virgin informed Renato: “Tomorrow, I will show you Jesus”. And on the next day: “Here is Jesus who has long since been waiting for you. One day... you will have to say to the Church authorities that Jesus wants to see his Mother Queen of the World and Queen of Love, and that He will never allow that she be kept apart from the altars... The world wants Mary, and Mary shall save the world if you listen to her and are converted.” At these words, the infant Jesus in the arms of His Mother began “to move and to play with her as any other child.” Until then he had remained motionless. Henceforth he would come to life at every apparition. On December 3, 1985, the happenings of Schio hit the newsstands. The Giornale di Vicenza devoted two pages to them. The “Virgin’s project” was on its way. “Your sufferings of today are united to the joys”, Mary tells Renato. “Your hour has come. Many are joining you, and coming to Mary.” On Thursday evening, the Church was too small for the crowd. On January 13, 1986, the Virgin warned that “Satan is prevailing over all institutions... God has been cast out of society.” But on January 21, she was more reassuring: “My children, it is your prayers that will bring peace to the world.” To accommodate the throng, it was decided that a Way of the Cross would be built along the path climbing up to the

7 As the reader will have noticed, this is not a quote but a summary of the content of verses 11-12. 15 THE PERFUMED CROSS neighbouring hill of Belmonte, where on March 29, 1986, Renato and his friends had already erected a large iron cross. Crude wooden crosses were planted at the stations, which were to be inaugurated on March 29, 1986. This way of the cross was to be a weekly event. Twelve days later Renato fell to his knees before the Fourth Station. The Virgin had appeared this time without the Child, arms outstretched, in a pearl-grey tunic, similar to the Virgin of Medjugorje, where Renato had been with his wife on March 7- 8: “You have had the courage one day to erect this cross. Jesus will bless all who come to pray here.” On Holy Tuesday, March 25, the Virgin had asked Renato and his friends to “build a large home” to welcome “the abandoned, the lonely, the priests”, to be called the “House of Love” (Opera del Amore). Renato and his group “for quite a while already” had been devoutly saying their beads on their way to Belmonte, now called the Mount of Christ. As they arrived at the Second Station, they noticed that the Cross, hewn out of acacia-wood, had started “to exude an incomparable and mysterious perfume.” One night however vandals uprooted the Cross and smeared it with pitch. After it had been cleansed, Renato sheltered it in his home. Since it had become even more sweetly fragrant than before, he had it placed securely “under a show-case, pierced with holes... and fastened to the wall of the chapel in the House of Love.” On March 19, 1987, at Belmonte, Renato, at the conclusion of the way of the cross with his group, fell into ecstasy, during which the Virgin told him: “Run, run! A sacrilege is being perpetrated at the Home... “ Rushing down the hill, the faithful saw that the door of the Home was wide open and the cross had disappeared. “They followed its trace” of perfume in the air and came to the surrounding wall just as “the robbers were about to load their booty into a van... “ 8 The cross has been replaced on the wall in the chapel, beneath a thick shield of transparent plastic, pierced with holes, from which for the last eighteen years it has emitted an intense fragrance of rose, which an expert chemical analysis, under judiciary control, has been unable to explain by natural causes. 9

8 The quotes are from Mgr. Fausto Rossi: La Reine de l'Amour, Apparitions à San Martino di Schio, Ed. du Parvis, Hauteville, Switzerland, 1988. 9 Tiny fragments of the wood of this cross, the size of a grain of wheat, that are in private possession were still emitting, twenty years later, a scent of roses of unparalleled intensity. After Renato's death in 2004, the 16 SCHIO TODAY Such are the beginnings of a series of Marian apparitions, accompanied by messages, which lasted until the death of the visionary in 2004. Schio has become one of the most fervent centers of contemporary Marian devotion. In contrast to Garabandal, Medjugorje, El Escorial or Manduria, it has this specific character that the visionary chosen by Heaven was a well-known local personality characterized by his exceptional and exemplary piety. And in his case, as in most places of apparitions, he was not the only one to benefit from the signs of Heaven. For what is distinctive of Schio are the wafts of heavenly rose-perfume which now and then, especially during the way of the cross or during the apparitions, were perceived by one and all, or even at quite unexpected times by this or that individual pilgrim or group of faithful, as if the Virgin were signalling her presence.10

.

Renato Baron wafts of perfume decreased progressively. Few wonders are forever. This phenomenon of the perfume of the Virgin has also been observed at the place of apparitions of Le Laus (1647-1718) after 300 years. As a result, Le Laus, (France) has recently been "authenticated." 10 An interesting contrast is that between Schio (1985-2002), where Renato Baron, in spite of the bishop's initial scepticism, was allowed to follow unhindered the promptings from Heaven, and Lyon Croix-Rousse (1882-1883), where Anne-Marie Coste, because of the opposition of the archbishop, was prevented from doing so effectively (See chapter 4). What a contrast within a hundred years, thanks to Vatican II's liberal attitude towards the laity and its positive approach to charismatic events!

17 QUEEN OF LOVE

Virgin of Schio

Perfumed Cross

18 FIRST PART

To the Reader:

May I draw your attention to the footnotes. In the main text I express my ideas; in the footnotes I present the facts on which these ideas are based. And what is a thesis without the data upon which it rests as on the solid foundation of reality? Just as for the method used in every chapter, where the opening objections are followed by our own counter-arguments, preceded by a double-dash ( ̶ 4 ̶ ), thus the text printed in large font on the top part of the page is buttressed by the information supplied in smaller print below. Furthermore, reactions to the French version of this book have shown that footnotes make, paradoxically, for more interesting reading than the main text.

19 ST.

20 REVELATION IS ENOUGH ONE REVELATIO SUFFICIT

t. John of the Cross is quoted as saying that Revelation, such as it is expressed in the Scriptures and transmitted to us by Tradition, is all we for salvation. According to him,S private revelations do not add anything, but may even detract from Public Revelation, which alone has universal value. Even though he wrote his Ascent of Mount Carmel for sixteenth century monks, the advice which he gives in Book 2, is no less relevant today. There is hardly a vision, locution or prophecy which should not be initially mistrusted by its recipient, since what it brings is questionable, while its benefits are dubious.11 Why rely on private revelations to complement what is in no need of completion? St. John of the Cross, who wishes thus to preserve us from misplaced curiosity and conceit, was a follower of St. Thomas. The Spanish Master's concern is with the welfare of the individual soul, while that of the Angelic Doctor is with the good of the Church. In his eyes, the excessive credulity of those who believe in unproven miracles is harmful to the Faith, which it exposes to the public mockery of sceptics.

̶ 4 ̶ Although Revelation is sufficient for those who live by it, there remains in most of us a need for that extra lift or shove that shakes us out of our complacency and rekindles our fervour. Our faith becomes lukewarm in the daily humdrum of our lives. We think that because we work hard, we are putting our lives to good use, albeit a utilitarian one. A miracle, on the other hand, shatters our complacency, dispels our indifference, and makes us realize that prayer means putting time to a supernatural use! Not only did Fatima result in the sanctification of the seers and the edification of the onlookers, but in the spiritual

11. Even in the days of St. John of the Cross, this was hardly a novel doctrine. In the fifteenth century, Gerson, who had studied the revelations of St Gertrude, had written the following: ‘There is no plague more destructive, more pernicious than the infatuation with revelations." (As quoted by Louis Pain: La bergère du Laus, Résiac, Montsûrs, 1988, p. 118.)

21 “WHY ME?” renovation of a whole country, . Beyond its immediate impact, it also had as far-reaching consequences as the fall of the Wall and the partial democratisation of Russia, once the Pope had consecrated the world to the Heart of Mary Immaculate. A few words addressed to three little shepherds by a heavenly messenger changed the course of history. Furthermore, St. John, seen as the authoritative critic of so-called apparitions, is quoted here out of context. It is true that in his Ascent of Mount Carmel (Book 2, Chap. 12), he discourages his followers from imploring God or the Virgin to grant them special favours of a supernatural nature, such as visions or locutions. He knew full well, and by first-hand experience, that in monks or nuns leading contemplative lives the power of suggestion can lead many a soul astray. But should his warning apply to the cases we are dealing with, where Heaven intervenes on its own without the seers ever expecting or seeking anything of the kind? The little girls of Heroldsbach or Garabandal, the young girls of Medjugorje, the two young men of Maracaibo (Venezuela), the mother of a family in El Escorial, or Renata Baron, active in local politics in Schio, were all completely taken by surprise, and they could not help but ask the Virgin: “Why me?” As for Debora of Manduria, she was so far removed from any thought of apparitions that she was on her way to the disco when she was first called. From such an unexpected calling great things would come for the benefit of many. No lesser figure than St. Paul in his days could apply to God ’s declaration: “I have been found by those who did not me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me” (Rom 10: 20). What is the state of mind of the common man who is drawn as if by a magnet to a place of apparitions? Is this man or woman yearning for special favours from Heaven? Should they be dissuaded from coming? These questions would be of interest if the Virgin had not, as her divine Son, in days by, come to visit the sinner rather than the saint. Is she not “Mater peccatorum” (the Mother of sinners)? Should we expect lukewarm Christians to be guided by considerations which were addressed to religious whose zeal can lead them to an excess? The notion that Revelation is so exclusive that it precludes anything beyond itself is as narrow-minded as Luther’s claim that Scripture is self-explanatory. For Scripture needs the Church for interpretation. And what is the Church if not the sum of its faithful, priests and laymen, in which the charism of the one, is profitable to the many? Private revelations can enhance the impact of Public Revelation, just as the

22 READINESS IS ALL homily in the Sunday Mass explains the meaning of the Readings. The Holy Ghost, who speaks to all in the , is also the one who, in quieter tones, whispers into the ear of the present-day prophet. Readiness is all: readiness to listen and to change. This willingness is found wanting in those who dispute Heaven’s right to intervene in the normal pattern of our lives. As if God had renounced once and for all, after the last apostle’s death, to speak to humans, advise them by word of mouth, send his angels to communicate with them or allow the Virgin to exercise her motherly rights of visitation!

23 THE “LITTLE MIRACLE” OF GARABANDAL

24 REVELATION IS ENOUGH (bis) TWO REVELATIO SUFFICIT (bis)

particular revelation, according to the Catechism, is not the object of supernatural belie£ Why should we then focus on it? If we give it too much importance, could it not enterA into competition with proven Revelation? Thus, if we concentrate our attention on messages bearing on data which are uncertain, are we not taking the risk of interfering with the hallowed status of the Gospel or of Tradition? If in our enthusiasm we choose the lowest benchmark, are we not reducing what is essential to what is accidental? ̶ 4 ̶ It is true that there is a general revelation which we call universal, because it is meant for all. It is thus universal in its essence. "Those who believe will be saved", writes St. Paul. Nonetheless, universal revelation does not exclude the possibility of particular revelations. Since nothing is more convincing than experience, let us take the case of that man who happened to be at Garabandal at the moment of the "little miracle", when Conchita received communion from the hand of an angel. Having witnessed this wonder, he believed. Within a few seconds, he passed from unbelief to faith. He was no longer an agnostic, he had become a child of the Church. This very particular and exclusive incident, which he had been privileged to see at close range, changed his life once and for all. If there is such a thing as a miracle, then there is such a being as God; and since this was an eucharistic miracle, this man realized that Christ is our Saviour and Redeemer; and just as he discovered that the supernatural is real, he was made aware of his own sinfulness. Faith in this case was experiential. It went through the senses before it reached the heart. This man benefited from a special grace, a . From a particular revelation to a universal revelation, the link was intimate and necessary. In practice, all is one. Private revelations are granted to individuals for their own improvement, and therefore should not be dismissed. One of the most spurious arguments I ever heard against

25 CONVERTED AT GARABANDAL Medjugorje was that a belief in the supernatural character of this place of apparitions should not be equated with a supernatural belief. In this case, however, it is the end which justifies the means. The end is God, of which there is only one. It is absurd to oppose the God of Medjugorje to that of the Bible. God's interventions in the privacy of a soul do not exclude his intervention through Tradition, the Scripture and the universal Church. In the same way, the “little miracle” of Garabandal is not a matter of faith, but it brought faith, which is the most precious gift of God to man. 12

The Little Miracle

Dr. Jean Caux and Conchita

12. An angel brought the Eucharist to the visionary Conchita. The man in question was Dr. Caux, a famous Parisian plastic surgeon. To be precise, the witnesses did not see the angel, but merely the host on the tongue of the visionary Conchita, where it remained visible for two minutes. The proceedings were recorded on video. An unspectacular, almost intimate wonder indeed, but one whose impact was life-changing for the beholder! 26 "THUS SPAKE GAMALIEL" THREE GAMALIEL5 DICIT f this counsel or this work have its origin from men, it will be destroyed; but if it is from God you will not be able to put it down." Though Gamaliel is never quoted, the gist of his I argument to the Sanhedrin is transposed as follows: "Either the apparition is fraudulent, and it is right to squelch it; or it is authentic, and any opposition to it will only increase the supernatural benefits that are to be obtained." ̶ 4 ̶ This argument is the most sophisticated of all, because it is couched in terms which render hommage to God's omnipotence. But though we should be wary of reading into the designs of Providence, we should be even more careful not to assume that Heaven will perform in us the good we are in need of without our own active cooperation and prompt response. Did not Gamaliel warn that opposition in such cases entailed the risk of "fighting against God Himself"? The biblical warning "not to tempt God" is appropriate here, and putting Him to the test is blasphemous when done intentionally. Even if the border-line between acting prudently with due deliberation and unwisely erecting artificial hurdles to hinder the accomplishment of the divine will can in actual cases be blurred, it is unwise to multiply objections to requests from Heaven. We know of a prelate who, having been invited by a visionary at the Madonna's request to come to the place of apparitions, quipped, "Let her tell me so in person!" Which would have been worse than an impertinence had it been meant in earnest! An alternative proposed as an answer to a foreseen ambiguity often brings about the drawback it was supposed to conjure away. Since it places the "pro" and the "contra'' on the same level, it valorises almost automatically the less plausible of the two. Saint Grignion de Montfort, for example, whose apostolic zeal jostled established conventions, often provoked in the bishops, who were shocked by the novelty of his approach, the following reasoning: "He's either a great saint or the most brazen hypocrite". Since they were symmetrically confronting two possibilities, of which only one should have seemed conceivable,

27 “GOD’S FAILURE" IS MAN’S DOING they reached the decision most in conformity with what they equated to the virtue of prudence. They would not allow this impetuous apostle to missionize in their diocese.They did not even surmise that they might be reasoning absurdly and that one day they would be taken to account for this value-blindness. Similarly, he who misapplies the "Gamaliel argument" quoted above and uses it as a two-edged sword against the plausibility of an apparition, does not realize that he is sinning against logic. For such events are not so simple that they can be reduced to an opposition between two extremes, of which the one cancels the other. One cannot free oneself in such a desultory way of the accountability of having to make the right choice. Where there is an obligation, there is no easy escape-clause. Certain problems cannot be solved by tossing a coin. This does not mean that he who behaves in this irresponsible way, is necessarily aware that he is acting in an outrageous manner. Far from it! He is usually merely being an "honest conscientious objector" to wonders of an unexpected nature. Christ, however, addressing himself to Maria Valtorta, is severe towards those who leave it to God to bring to a good end what He had meant to accomplish with their help. They say: "If this work is of God, it is up to Him to take care of it." "This sentence", indeed, "is the proof that they doubt that it is of God." They want Him to add to what He has already done. This becomes an additional requirement; otherwise they will not believe. "With this attitude of theirs, they do offend me," adds Christ. "Do they not realize that they offend charity in my person when they insinuate that God should, to convince them, accomplish extraordinary deeds for the triumph of those works that in themselves are already extraordinary?" If the supernatural has already been made manifest, man has no right to demand an additional sign under the pretext that God owes to Himself to bring to perfection what He has already initiated. And Christ concludes with the following heart-rending observation: "Since the creation of angels and men, how often have men despised or wasted God's perfect works! If these works have failed, is it because they were not of God! On the contrary, it is precisely because they were of God that they were trampled underfoot."

28 GAMALIEL REBUKED And he adds emphatically: "I do affirm that this is true."13

Frightening words indeed and which should not go unnoticed! Among these deeds of God which were not crowned with success because men refused to recognize their true origin, can we doubt that amongst them there must have also been some apparitions of the Virgin?

Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort

Maria Valtorta

13 Maria Valtorta: Les cahiers de 1945 à 1950, Centro editoriale valtortiano, Isola del Liri (Fr), 2004, p.530, (my translation). It is a protestant belief that God can save us without our own active and personal cooperation. 29 TWO VISIONARIES

Anne-Marie Coste (Lyon)

Marie Martel (Tilly-sur-Seulles)

30 GAMALIEL (BIS) AND MARY, FORSAKEN MOTHER

FOUR GAMALIEL (bis) ATQUE MARIA, MATER DESOLATA 6

od is the Alpha and the Omega, and nothing can stand in his way. Such was Gamaliel's conviction when he told the Sanhedrin: "When a work comes from God, it isG assuredly successful." This means that if the Virgin appears, her apparitions will not remain beneath a bushel, but be openly recognized and celebrated. On the other hand, spurious apparitions are not protected from the oblivion into which they will soon lapse. There is such a thing as a success-story for authentic apparitions, such as Lourdes and La Salette, and a sad tale of frustration and neglect for so-called questionable ones, such as Lyon la Croix-Rousse (1882-1883) and Tilly-sur-Seulles (Normandy; diocese of Bayeux, 1896-2000). ̶ 4 ̶ History shows, however, that it is often those works which are not from God that are successful. Did not the Freemasons in France in 1904, in a country where most people were baptized, constrain to exile its elite believers, the Catholic congregations? And did not one of the most effective religious persecutions take place in in the 1920's, in a nation where the faithful outnumbered the unbelievers by eight or nine to one? Both cases demonstrate, incidentally, that democratic plurality has little to do with effective control of the levers of power. The same considerations could apply to Marian apparitions. If the bishop is unconvinced, he will not be swayed by the prayerful response of the faithful, but will be responsive to political pressure. This is what happened at Lyon Croix-Rousse in 1885, and at Tilly-sur-Seulles in Normandy in 1899. In the first case, the bishop felt that his policy of appeasement towards an anti-clerical Town-Hall was in jeopardy. In the second case, the bishop of Bayeux was led by similar worldly considerations to declare that "a second Lourdes" would at the present juncture be inappropriate in his diocese.

31 OUR LADY OF FOURVIЀRE Vox populi can only become vox Dei when vox clericorum agrees. Circumstances at first had seemed favourable in Lyon. An impending flood had been thwarted through the prayers of a visionary. Nothing less than a mountain, displaced by a landslide, had held the roiling waters of the Rhône in check, until those of its confluent, the Saône, had safely crested down past Lyon. The miracle could not be denied, at least if one had heard of Mary’s providential intervention. But as usual communications between Heaven and earth were kept on a confidential level. Thus credit was not given where credit was due. While this was taking place, the rest of France was not spared, and both the Loire and the Seine flooded their riverside townships. Let us now investigate the real nature of the intervention of our Lady of Fourvière, patroness of Lyon. THE BROKEN CROSS Anne-Marie Coste was born on August 3, 1860, on rue Saint-Cyr in Lyon, the oldest child of a family of nine. As a little girl she was abducted by a gypsy who locked her up in his trailer. Her prayers to Heaven were answered, however, and a bearded St. , whom she was later able to identify from his pictures, came to her rescue and led her back to her home, patted her on the cheek and said: “Go quickly back to your father.” When she was fourteen, an unfortunate fall made a cripple of her. Her infirmity in the following years grew into a “bone and pulmonary tuberculosis, with cancerous wounds from which cankered bone fragments and worms were extracted.” From 1879 to 1882, four sojourns in the hospital brought no improvement. As she was still in the hospital, on November 6, 1882, at 11 o’clock at night, the Virgin appeared to her: “I took the appearance under which you like best to invoke me,” she said, and Anne-Marie recognized "Our Lady of Fourvière." “You suffer a lot, but I have come to console you.” On her left arm she bore the Child Jesus who held in his left hand a big brilliant earth-ball, crowned with Our Lady of Fourvière

32 LYON SAVED FROM THE FLOODS a cross that had been fragmented in several places “as if by a knife.” · “Do not repeat to any one what you have seen without speaking about it first with your spiritual advisor... I will tell you three ; the first is that there will be many floods, from which I will protect Lyon, my favourite city. It is the third time that I will have protected it from my Son’s wrath, but it will be the last time if there is no conversion”... “There will also be a big war”... “Beginning on December 8th, you will wait for me every day; I will come back to tell you what you should do... “ A few weeks later, the water levels rose ominously in the Saône and the Rhône. And “while the Rhône swelled up with a violence that would have doubly imperiled the city, it was suddenly held in check by a mountain that slid into its path...” At the same time, in the rest of the country, huge floods were reported. Beginning in December, Anne-Marie, in spite of her illness, asked to be released from the hospital to be received by her friends, the Deguerrys, 26 rue Claude Bonnet, who lodged her in a garret. On January 2, 1883, as she was in prayer, the Virgin appeared to her: “She looked at me and said, 'Je suis abandonnée' (‘I have been forsaken’).” Or, as also reported, “I am a forsaken Mother.” Then she reassured Anne-Marie: “My child, do not change anything in your manner of doing, your simplicity and your artlessness are pleasing to me. I wish that novenas be prayed in all parishes and communities of France, as follows: nine Our Fathers, nine Hail Marys, with nine times the invocations: Forsaken Mother, pray for us; Mother afflicted by ungrateful hearts, pray for us. These are the last prayers for which I ask to appease my Son.” The Blessed Virgin added: “Then you must strike medals such as this one... I want all my followers to wear it on their breast and on their clothes... You will have much to suffer, you will even be taken for insane, but the thought that you will soon see me again should console you and give you strength. You shall not suffer alone, I will always be with you.”

33 THE As Anne-Marie asked for a sign for her spiritual advisor who had expressed doubts, the Virgin answered: “And if I cured you?” Both her friends and family, and her doctor who supplied a written attestation, could ascertain that her painful infirmities had suddenly vanished. Since then, Mary appeared several times to her protégée. But it was no fault of hers, “if the Virgin was displeased and spoke with severity...” “She complained that when she had asked for novenas and public prayers in all of the churches, nothing happened.” “[She] had asked that medals be struck and worn, and this had not been done.” Anne-Marie tried to explain that people expected irrefutable proofs: “What? Have I not supplied proofs enough already. Did I not cure you? Did I not save Lyon from the impending waters?” · Anne-Marie’s parents fell ill. Their daughter looked after them until they died. The children were adopted by rich and generous friends or relatives. Anne-Marie could enter the convent, and chose the nuns of the Sacred Heart at Grandris, in the Beaujolais. On March 3 and 13, 1883, the Virgin appeared again, asking her to return for a while in the world, “because I want you to help the ‘forsaken Mother’ to be loved and that I be honoured more especially under this title. When it will be time for you to serve the good God, I will warn you... [but] it will be in the community of the nuns of St. Joseph.” On March 30, she was working as a seamstress at Bellecour (Lyon) when the Virgin asked her: “Are the novenas being made?”-“Yes, my Mother.” -“Have the medals been struck?” - “No, my Mother”. As Anne-Marie, speaking for her spiritual advisor, added that “the authorities cannot have you be publicly honoured without further proof”, the Virgin retorted: “Did I not cure you? Did I not take care of your family? Did I not protect you from the floods? That is not enough for them. I shall, therefore, grant them a further grace: the sick who wear the medal will be healed, the sick will not die without a true contrition, the families where the image of the forsaken Mother is exposed will be showered with blessings.” 14 On April 22, still at Bellecour, as Anne-Marie was praying in front of the garret where she had been cured, the Good Mother told her: 14 How often is the Virgin saying, as her Son used to do, "believe in me for the sake of the works themselves" Jn 14: 11)! The miracles accomplished were the most telling argument. To place them in doubt was to distrust Providence. 34 OUTRAGES TO THE CROSS “You want to know what this broken cross signifies: it is a figure of the Eucharist and of our times.” Then she showed her the left arm of the cross: “Such are the outrages that your Saviour receives in his sacrament of Love. This is what lukewarm and indifferent souls inflict upon him. Such is the evil the wicked do to him when they uproot the cross... In reparation for these great outrages you will add in your prayer: ‘Divine Saviour, while the wicked desecrate you in your Sacrament and they shatter your crosses, allow it (sic) to grow La Croix Brisée sur in my heart and do not allow the devil ever to uproot le globe it’.” On May 1 and 21, the Virgin said: “Anne-Marie, I will soon leave you alone. However, I will always remain with you... Do you understand why I did not want to see you always in the same place?... It is to let you know that I did not come for you, but for all and especially for Lyon.” Then she handed to her the Child Jesus on whose shoulder Anne-Marie noticed a deep wound, full of blood... In a later revelation made to the Curé of Ars, he was told of this wound, and that it should become the object of a particular devotion. At her last apparition in 1883, the Virgin told Anne-Marie that she would see her again during her last moments. Once Anne-Marie had entered the convent, the garret where she had seen the Virgin became a place of pilgrimage, which lasted until 1888, at which date it was ordered closed by religious authorities who had been disturbed by reports of the apish antics and affected airs of a man who was obviously not in his right mind. It remained closed for fifty years. What about the medals the Virgin insisted upon? In the Annales du surnaturel of November 15, 1884, we are told that “the medal of... Lyon has been so well received in Italy and in Austria that it has been sold by hundreds of thousands. In France, its popularity is increasing from day to day.” And also in , especially since the spread of cholera, because, under the name of the miraculous medal from Lyon, it protected from the plague. Those who were healed mention they owed it to the fact that they had been openly wearing the medal. Anne-Marie Coste had entered the convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph, where the archbishop of Lyon was hoping she would soon be

35 "1 AM THE FORSAKEN MOTHER" forgotten. In Italy, a leaflet supplied an explanation of the Cross-on- the-Globe, which is broken in three parts to signify the three manners in which “God is offended through blasphemy, the profanation of feast days and the contempt of the precepts of the Church.” In her convent, Sister Mary of the Eucharist, Anne-Marie’s name in religion, edified the community occasionally through miracles. She became infirm and remained bed-ridden for two years, and could only be moved on a litter. In 1886, however, she was suddenly healed during the parish mass. It was her third cure. She died in the convent of Saint-Priest on April 28, 1924. Little is known of her life in the convent, the policy of silence imposed by the archbishop having been carefully observed. Nonetheless, it is said that she knew which souls in Sr. Mary of the Eucharist purgatory were most in need of prayers, and that she suffered from vexations from the devil. “Her earthly life came to an end at last, after renewed and cruel sufferings, which the Mother Superior did nothing to attenuate. On the contrary, as the poor sick woman suffered atrociously from kidney pains, she forbade her to seek relief by leaning back in her chair,” as if she thought the visionary had to do penance for her charismatic past! Anne-Marie died of uremic poisoning, during the night of the 27th to the 28th of April, 1924. Following which, two miraculous cures took place. What is the lesson to be drawn from this saintly life? On November 5, 1885, the abbé Olive, a doctor of Theology, wrote a letter to Pope Leo XIII complaining that the requests of the Virgin of Lyon had not been given serious attention: “No inquest has been made.” The attitude of Church authorities had been negative and critical all along: they did not consider that the miraculous cures of Anne-Marie, or the preservation from the floods, or the protection from the plague through the medals had been proofs enough. Prayer meetings at the place of the apparitions lasted for seven years, before they were forbidden for good. The parallel between Lourdes and Lyon is enlightening in this respect, because at Lourdes it had been the civilian authorities that had intervened and tried to prevent access to the grotto of Massabielle. At Lyon, it was at the bishop’s initiative that the garret was walled up and that all its contents, objects of piety, ex-votos, etc... were burnt, 36 TILLY-SUR-SEULLES (1896-1899) including a bouquet upon which Mary’s feet had rested. A short while later, in Normandy, at Tilly-sur-Seulles (diocese of Bayeux) the Virgin spoke to the visionary Marie Martel, on December 8, 1900, complaining that she had been abandoned. But it was in Italy, in her apparitions to Renata Baron at Schio (diocese of Vicenza) that the Blessed Virgin repeated once more that very expression she had used at Lyon: “I am the forsaken Mother.” In Lyon, meanwhile, the reason for the Church’s negative attitude should be related to political pressure. On July 7, 1881, the huge cross at the square of the Croix-Rousse was demolished “by order of the mayor of Lyon: Gailleton.” Doubtless, the religious authorities had feared that if they promoted the broken Cross of the Apparitions, they would be flouting the authority of Town-Hall and become liable to prosecution. Their lack of adequate response must have been interpreted as an avowal of helplessness because the destruction of crosses in public places went on unabated. The conclusion to be drawn is that Gamaliel’s prediction that “when a work is of God, it is assuredly successful,” is one of those half-truths which depend upon contingent factors. In the case evoked in the Acts of St. Luke, God’s work was crowned by success because the Apostles refused to be silenced by the Sanhedrin. In the case in Lyon, God’s work was rendered ineffective by successors of the Apostles who lacked the gumption of their forefathers. God’s work needs man’s cooperation. Such is the way in which the apparitions of Lyon can be read. 15

15 The information, the illustrations and the quotes for this chapter were supplied by the book of Gilles Lameire, to whom we are deeply indebted: La Croix brisée sur le Globe: Apparitions de La Sainte Vierge à Lyon, Résiac, F-53150 Montsûrs, 1997. History tries to be objective. If it seems in this particular case to be critical of the attitude of the local Church, it has grounds enough to be so, since no official inquest was initiated and no documents were filed. The matter had been hushed so that it could not be considered worthy of consideration. As for Tilly-sur-Seulles (1896-1906), the situation was different, since the Virgin was seen by many besides the visionary Marie Martel (1872- 1913), in fact several times by the whole school of little girls and their 37 Médaille de la Mère abandonnée (Medal of the Forsaken Mother)

teaching nuns. Furthermore, there were plenty of spectacular cures, conversions and signs in the heaven, such as a spinning sun taking on variegated colours. As for Marie Martel, she was a victim-soul and suffered intensely. During her visions she was ecstatic and a physician, Dr. Paul Léonce-Briand, who once looked closely into her pupils could see the Virgin reflected there. When everybody else was drenched by heavy rainfall, Marie would remain as dry as on a sunny day. The local clergy and even the Vatican, with Leo XIII and St Pius X, were most favourably disposed. The only effective opposition came from the Bishop of Bayeux, Monseigneur Arnette, who needed the approval of the Freemasons in the French government for his candidacy to the archbishopric of Paris. It is thus because of him that what might have become a second Lourdes has remained to this day merely a historical curiosity. But according to the prophecies of Marie Martel, a time will come when the huge basilica she was shown in a vision - as it was to the nuns and the girls in the school - will be built at Tilly. Furthermore, she who had foretold with precision, amongst other events that were later confirmed, the catastrophic volcanic eruption of 1902 on the island of Martinique, in the Caribbean, and the oncoming World War I, cannot be dismissed as a mythmonger.

38 Our Lady of Tilly

Marie Martel

39 MARTIN LUTHER

40 BEELZEBUB WINS OUT

FIVE BEELZEBUB VINCIT

t is through Beelzebub that the devils are cast out.” Though St. Luke in 11: 14-21 is never quoted, yet he should be, because the logic at work in this case is - unknowingly - that of the Pharisees.I Conversions, miracles or spiritual benefits are attributed to the devil who is using (apparent) good to bring about (real) evil. Does not Satan work best in disguise? Is he not clever enough to invite good- will into channels of perdition? It is easy to say: “If the fruits are good, then the tree is good.” As for any proposition, this one can be inverted: “If the tree is bad, then the fruits will be bad, even if at first they seem to be otherwise.” Thus, it is entirely appropriate to suspect the worst, when the best is only too naively assumed. ̶ 4 ̶ To invert a biblical quotation, however, is a risky thing to do. No one that we know of does it openly, even if many implicitly follow this faulty logic. The best answer is to remind them that they find themselves, then, in the worthy company of Martin Luther who used this mode of reasoning. He maintained in his On Christian Freedom, that it was the “tree” of Faith that justified the “fruits” of the so-called “good works”, and not vice-versa.16 But this way of proceeding has already been found wanting in the course of history. How often has this very argument, that good consequences can stem from a bad inspiration,

16 Luther obviously enjoyed standing the Bible on its head. According to the abbe Christiani: "Luther turns the formula of Christ upside down: 'For Luther .. .it is not by its fruit that a tree can be judged, it is by the tree that the fruit can be judged (a)'". If botany had been founded on the same principle, plants would not have been classified by their flowers and fruits, but by their stalks and trunks. (a) From Pierre Chaunu's preface to Luther: Les grands écrits réformateurs, Flammarion, Paris, 1992, p. 84, in his commentary for On Christian Freedom. 41 SATAN-PROTEUS DEFEATED BY MARY been utilized against saints and mystics by querulous and ill-advised superiors! This same assumption, that unusual means which bring about unexpectedly good results must stem from an evil source, is often made to denigrate the obvious and visible consequences of crowds assembling at places of apparitions. As for the much feared deception of the devil passing himself off as the Virgin Mary with blue veil and pious mien, its plausibility is highly exaggerated. That such behaviour on his part could be crowned with success for several years staggers the imagination. It would mean that Christ could tolerate that Satan publicly insult His Mother. The late French mystic, Marthe Robin, assures us that if Satan can provide good counterfeits, even of the Passion itself, “he cannot provide a good imitation Marthe Robin of Mary. He has no power over her.“17 Since on this theme of the devil as “impersonator of the Virgin and Proteus of all personifications,” and the belief in his chameleon-like power of dissimulation, both by clerics and by the crowds, seem to us excessive, let us try to dissipate it once for all. The capacity of deception of Satan is not limitless, for, as Christ said to Maria Valtorta, “The name of Mary fills the devil with even more horror than my name and my Cross, [and] the echo of Mary’s name is enough to make him flee.”18 The exorcists are well aware of this. We are told that the devil can pass himself off as an angel of light, but not that he can pass himself off convincingly as the Queen of Angels, the Virgin under whose foot he is crushed. At Emmitsburg, where the apparitions took place in the Church, the visionary having been put in the first row, the Virgin asked the sceptics if they thought that her “divine Son, exposed on the altar would have tolerated for as many months,” in such a place, such an inconceivable deception.19 And at Heroldsbach (Germany: 1949-52), the little visionary girls promptly became suspicious and ran away from the apparition when it said they

17 Monique de Huertas: La stigmatisée Marthe Robin, Centurion, 1990, p. 219. 18 Maria Valtorta: Les Cahiers de 1943, Centro Editoriale Valtortiano, Isola del Liri, 2002, p. 78. 19 Video: Unbridled Mercy, Mercy Foundation, Mundelein, IL.

42 "HOW CAN SATAN CAST OUT SATAN?" should not recite so many rosaries. “But how did you know it wasn’t the Virgin?” they were asked. “It had fierce eyes,” was their response. Are not eyes supposed to be the mirrors of the soul? That Satan cannot preach prayer without falling into the trap of defeating his own purpose should be obvious. That he might score victories on the side of the heavenly hosts to rout them, as a part of a devious strategy, would mean that he rules “an empire divided unto itself” (Mk 3: 23). But his powers are not such that he can instrumentalize what is of God. He cannot convert Paul to get at Peter. The Gospel describes the dilemma in which the devil finds himself if he follows the pattern of behaviour the pharisees ascribe to him: “It is by the Prince of demons” that the demons are cast out (Luke 11: 15). They would then be as a kingdom divided unto itself, however, or a house divided against itself. “If Satan rise up against himself and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.” In logical terms the accusation of the scribes and pharisees against Jesus is absurd. For “how can Satan cast Satan out” (Mk 3: 22-26).20 Yet the fallacy expressed here has been repeated again and again as a compelling argument against what is of God by those who refuse to recognize the true nature of His interventions. It is a standard objection to the authenticity of Marian apparitions. But the answer is at hand: “No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his goods” (Mk 3, 27). If the apparitions of the Virgin are followed by conversions, cures, prayers and vocations, then Satan has been bound by Someone stronger than he. It is unprofitable and useless to tell horror stories, such as the following one, of a scenario of deception that was crowned with success.

20 As Margery Kempe wrote in 1436, commenting favourably on the charisms of Julian of Norwich, " ... when God visiteth a creature with tears of contrition... [we] may and ought to believe that the Holy Ghost is in [this] soul... There may none evil spirits give these tokens, for saith that tears torment more the devil than do the pains of hell." If the tears of contrition, according to St. Jerome, are more insufferable to the devil "than the torments of hell", how can it be imagined that he can play a part in apparitions that inflict upon him one defeat after another? (Dom Roger Hudleston: Revelations of Divine Love, London, Burns Oates, 1952, p. xxviii). 43 MAGDALEN OF THE CROSS Sceptical scholars will inevitably invoke .the famous satanic deception of Magdalen of the Cross, the Spanish nun who, for years, fooled theologians and grandees with her visions, prophecies, levitations, apparent abstinence from food and self-inflicted stigmata, and was three times named abbess of her convent, and who recanted only when old age awakened her to the unpleasant realisation of the proximity of hell. She had signed a pact with the devil and had to be exorcised.21 But if the annals of deception are so bare that we have to leaf back six centuries into Church history before coming across such a story, Satan’s batting average must be pretty low. He is better at tempting humans unobserved than he is at working pseudo-wonders which soon backfire to his shame. Rather than furthering the ambition of power-crazy nuns, he prefers to destroy the reputation of those whose humility are a real threat. Why attempt to pass off a sinner as a saint when the opposite is much easier? Sister Yvonne-Aimee de Malestroit, for instance, who very early became Mother Superior of her congregation, and under whose impulsion religious vocations and foundations increased and multiplied was almost removed from her position by religious authorities who imagined that such favourable results could only be obtained with diabolic help and furtherance! Thus, she who after the Liberation of France in World War II became the most highly decorated woman in France because of the freedom fighters whose lives she saved through her judicious, heavenly- sent advice, might have been prevented from performing these good deeds through the intervention of priests invoking the argument of “Beelzebub”. This is the kind of argument which is used to reduce to nothing the spiritual and apostolic effectiveness of apparitions! The pretext is the same: unusual means crowned with exceptional results can only proceed from an evil source! To reduce this argument to the absurd is easy, and that is what Christ did when the Pharisees used it against him. His indignation was not feigned, for it was never as emphatic as when he was accused of performing evil under the guise of doing good. Those critics of contemporary apparitions who advance the same charge against a Virgin Mary who they claim is a fraud and under whose figure the devil is disguised, should be made aware to what peril they are exposing themselves. If a tree is not to be judged by its fruits, by what should it be judged? In the case of Medjugorje, for example, about

21 Cf B. Groeschel: A Still Small Voice, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1993, pp. 45-46. 44 YVONNE-AIMÉE OF MALESTROIT which those who have been there report so glowingly, and of which others - who usually never went there - speak so disparagingly, should it not be enough to clarify the issue to mention that it is unparalleled as a place where priestly vocations are born? 22

Yvonne-Aimée of Malestroit as a young girl

22 We do not claim that immediate fruits are the only elements of evaluation of an apparition, but that they are the most objective ones, because, upon examination, they are the most obvious. There are other

45 TO SEE THE DEVIL EVERYWHERE In short, to see the devil everywhere is as absurd as to see him nowhere. To see the devil where the Virgin is to be found is as injurious as to see him where Christ is working miracles. Woe unto those therefore who ascribe to the devil what is of Mary!

Mother Yvonne-Aimée of Jesus

criteria, doubtless no less important, that will be mentioned in chapter 23 (Pecunia folsa expellit bonam). But since many of these are based on subjective judgment, they are more difficult to appreciate. 46 “GOD DOES NOT UTTER THREATS”

SIX "DEUS NON MINATUR'' k

ur God is a God of love, mercy and forgiveness. Though it cannot be denied that His prophets threatened Israel and its Kings with the worst possible retributions for theirO public and private sins, this was the Yahweh of the Old Covenant. Times have changed. Jesus is the bringer of good news. He does not use ominous language or issue warnings of impending disasters to frighten us back into his fold. If for a century we have been confronted with a crescendo of heavenly monitions announcing fearsome eschatological sanctions, it should also be noted that in terms of applied psychology, such a policy is hardly conducive to improved morale on the part of Christians. It seems doubtful that Heaven is involved in such an evocation of forthcoming catastrophes. ̶ 4 ̶ Let us distinguish, however, between punishment inflicted by justice as retribution for sin, and chastisement imposed by mercy for the betterment of the sinner. That the warnings issued by the Virgin are those of a Mother aware of the danger in which her children find themselves because of their repeated transgressions, need not be stressed; and when she evokes catastrophes that will befall mankind, these do not seem far removed from those we read about in the Apocalypse, or in the eschatological sections of the Old Testament. Whether then or now, the warnings issued express the same providential concern of a fatherly Providence. There is, after all, but one God of mercy. At the Escorial, if Christ announced that "many nations would be destroyed, of which a part of Europe" (Nov. 25, 1982), on the other hand, he disclaimed the charge that seers were mere bearers of ill-news: "How can men say that since God is pure love he cannot be 'catastrophist'? It is they themselves who bring about catastrophes, because they do not

47 THE "BOOMERANG-EFFECT" accept graces" June 11, 1992).23 Men do not measure the consequences of their denial of the spiritual, and when they refuse their heavenly calling, they are astounded by the result... Sin is the seed of disaster, and of nothing else. Even if, in this world, the innocent, more often than not, have to pay for the guilt of sinners, there is such a thing as a law of moral Immanence. Those are "catastrophists", therefore, who attract the disasters that will strike them with a power of attraction no less great than that of the lightning-rod to the bolt that will strike it. What could be God's responsibility in their unhappiness? - Only that of a permission granted to the "boomerang-effect", in the same way as an immanent justice lets one reap the fruits one has sown.24 Don Gobbi expresses himself without ambiguity on this subject: "[God] allows the punishment because through it, humanity may find its way back to God. You understand: he allows it for a greater good. But humanity models its punishment with its own hands." What greater mishap than the fall of a heavenly body on our planet? (Ap 8: 10; or 6: 13). But how could the actual misbehaviour of humanity affect the course of an asteroid whose trajectory had originally been set to avoid the earth? The laws of gravitation are precise enough to determine once for all, in terms of mass and impetus, an encounter apparently so fortuitous. - This problem is, however, at the heart of the relation between nature and mankind's supernatural destiny. For our species cannot escape its vocation without inflicting a disequilibrium

23 : Premier récit authentique des apparitions de l'Escorial, F. X. De Guibert, Paris, 1966, pp. 310-311. 24 See Maria Valtorta: Lezioni sull'epistola di Paolo ai Romani, Centro Editoriale Valtortiano, Isoladel-Liri, 03036, Italy, p. 44: "No need for cataclysms ... It suffices that God forsake men, and already they are at each others' throats, inflicting anguish and despair unto themselves. God's anger, the real one, the immutable anger of God, rather than expressing itself through chastisements, shows itself through His forsaking of men. God feels himself constrained to retire, and to abandon men to themselves.... When ungodliness and injustice will have overcome 99 % of humanity... then God will not reprove men with paternal punishments..., but he will forsake them. He will retire... He will deliver them one to another. Until the moment when, in the lightning of his will, He will order his angels to open the seven seals, to ring the four trumpets, to free the eagle of the three calamities."

48 WHEN EROS STRIKES upon its environment affecting even the course of meteors. To deny this solidarity of matter with the purposes of Providence would be to question Revelation itself. Men do not seem aware that necessity submits to grace without any intervention of violence. All the more so that necessity, in terms of modern science, follows that principle of uncertainty which Einstein objected to, and which introduces an instability favourable to the unexpected. It is as if God had waited twenty centuries before human science admitted that his interventions do not have to jostle out-of-date certainties. He was not in need of such a permission. That He should take advantage of it, however, now that the situation is opportune, should not surprise us! A few quotations from current prophecies would be appropriate at this point. At El Escorial, close to Madrid, on December 19, 1981, the visionary, Luz Amparo transmitted the following message: "God... is going to chastise the whole of humanity... in a way which has never been seen before." "Upon the earth... a darkness shall fall that will last three days and three nights. Nothing shall be visible; the air shall be pestilential and foul... The earth shall remain as a Wasteland."25 Later (February 11, 1982 and October 23, 1983), the Virgin was more explicit: " ... the chastisement shall be worse than forty earthquakes in succession... [It] shall be horrible and no one will escape..." " ... heavenly bodies will strike the earth; they are about to destroy the major part of humanity. The heavenly body Eros will illuminate all of humanity... It will seem that the world is aflame, it will last but a few seconds. At that moment, many men will wish they were dead... It shall be like a rain of fire... 26" At Heroldsbach, in North Bavaria, on November 13, 1951, the warning was less explicit: " ... my arm, said the Lord, shall soon fall to chastise humanity." But it went unheeded. "Our God is not a threatening God" was then in Germany one of the commonplace sayings in sermons. As a result, the seers of Heroldsbach were excommunicated for no less than eighteen years, because they refused to disavow their visions.27 At

25 Cf. supra, no. 24. Gabriel, p. 311 . 26 Le Sourire de Marie (Jan.-Feb., 2007, Montsûrs, pp. 77- 78) 27 lt seems appropriate at this point to quote what Padre Pio had to say about this place of apparitions: "And you Germans, what do you want more, are you not yet satisfied? The Mother of God has come to you. Heroldsbach is a place of grace." (Antoinette Biganski: Kurzbericht über die Erscheinigungen auf dem hl. Berg in Heroldsbach (9 October 1949 - 51).

49 THE CHASTISEMENT El Escorial, on December 11, 1982, the Virgin revealed more precisely that the chastisement would consist in "the fall on the earth of heavenly bodies... It will seem as if the world were in flames."28 Moreover, is not fear salutary when it inspires repentance?29 At Garabandal, following the "night of tears", on the night of June 21-22,

October 1952) (Schlossstr. 24, Heroldsbach, p. 34). "Unser Gott ist kein drohender Gott" ("Our God is no menacing God"): this sentence is one of the familiar stock phrases in Sunday homilies in Germany. It is perhaps the reason why the visionaries of Heroldsbach were excommunicated for refusing to swear that they had not seen the Virgin. Heaven is just as outspoken at distant longitudes. At Akita, in Japan, on October 13, 1973, Sister Agnes received the following demand from our Lady: "You will inform your superior. As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment ... greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead." Ted and Maureen Flynn: The Thunder of Justice, MaxKol Communications, Inc., Sterling VA 20166, USA, 1993, p. 188. 28 Gabriel, see above, p. 213. 29 Let us not forget to mention the conditional character of heavenly threats. At Naju, in Korea, the Virgin begs that one pray and become converted, to prevent, according to her expression, "the cup of God's anger from overflowing". June 12, 1997). Jörg Müller: Warum erscheint Maria so oft? Mediatrix-Verlag, St Andrä-Wördern, 1999, p. 73. At Medjugorje also, she says: "I will pray my Son not to punish the world, but I beseech you, do convert! You cannot imagine what is going to happen, nor what the Eternal Father will inflict on the world. That is why, do convert!"(June 24, 1983). Marijan Lubic: La Vierge apparaît en Yougoslavie, Medjugorje, Ed. Du Parvis, CH-1631, 1984 (?), p. 127. According to some theologians, the history of the relations of God with humanity has been separated into two segments: that of justice and that of mercy. The first had privileged chastisement, the second compassion. During the first, Jahweh, confronted with iniquity, unleashed his anger upon pagan cities, or on the House of Israel indulging in sin. In the second segment, following the New Alliance, which was crowned by the Cross, God, in spite of renewed sinfulness, far from giving in to anger, 50 THE WINE OF GOD'S FURY 1962, when the visionaries witnessed the forthcoming "chastisement," their cries and their distress made such an impression on the villagers, that, with one exception, they all went to confession within the following twenty-four hours. let fall the soft dew of His compassion. What would happen, however, if the nations, born under the new law, baptized in the blood of the early martyrs, were to free themselves, as time went by, from the tutelage of the Church and reinvent paganism under the guise of ideologies? Would the humanity of today, having returned to its vomit of yesterday, deserve better than the poenam gladii evoked by the prophet ? "For thus saith the Lord God... : Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations ... to drink it. And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them... Therefore thou shalt say unto them... : Drink ye, and be drunken, and psue [vomit], and fail, and rise no more... Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth... "Jr 26: 15-16, 27-29). If "the son of the promise" had behaved as an unrepentant rebel, does "the son of adoption" think that he will be allowed to do the same? The Apocalypse should convince him of the opposite: ''And the angel cast his sickle to the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and cast it into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and there came forth blood out of the wine press, up to the horses' bridles, for a thousand and six hundred stadia." (Apoc 14: 19-20). ''And I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God upon the earth" (Apoc 16: 1). ''And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder, and there was a great earthquake such has never been since men were first upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it... And Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of his fierce wrath (Apoc 16: 18-19). Panic will be such that the men shall say to the mountains, cover us... " (Hos. 10: 8). But in vain, because the Bible warns us that "the mountains could not be found" and "every island fled away" (Apoc 16: 20). Thus does the Bible describe the chastisement that shall befall this "Babylon", which is our earth, when it is addicted to the same

51 "THE SEVEN BOWLS OF THE WRATH OF GOD"

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse according to Dürer abominations as the votaries of Baal... May the Virgin have not wept tears in vain as she did first on her image at Syracuse in 1953 and has since not stopped from shedding on other various pictures of hers! Can there be a greater crime than that which the Western countries, under the sponsorship of the United Nations, have institutionalized: abortion, presented as an imprescriptible right of women? The unborn child is sacrificed on the altar of the standard of living. He cries, and no one takes notice, except Heaven! This is the "silent cry" of which Dr. Nathanson, a repentant abortionist, speaks.

52 ABORTION AS THE ULTIMATE EVIL The Virgin of Emmitsburg on May 2, 1996, also warned that the time was near when great trials and tribulations would be made manifest as the expression of (my emphasis). They will seem never to come to end. Devastations and disasters will follow one another. They will be of the natural, human and spiritual order and shall pour onto the world until God is adored in his sanctuary and his people are purified.30 Such warnings should not be taken lightly. At Kibého (1981-1985) in Rwanda, the young seers saw "rivers of blood" flowing. These rivers of death have flowed since then, bearing away two of the seers, Marie- Claire and Sagastacha. The escalation of chastisements that have been foretold follows the rising curve of crimes against humanity, as the effect follows the cause. When "homo homini lupus" (man becomes a wolf to man), can he not expect some immanent justice to be meted out? In the name of the proletariat, twenty-five million men died in the Goulag; in the name of race, six million were liquidated in Nazi concentration-camps; and in the name of woman's "reproductive rights", many more human beings are legally exterminated now than in the total of class-and-race mass murders. This exponential increase of victims testifies to the inurement to evil of each successive generation, which, while it condemns the crimes of the preceding one, discovers in turn, for its own governance, a no less aberrant justification for the slaughtering of a minority of its choice: in our case, the unborn. But "who lives by the sword perishes by the sword". Many people question the necessity for contemporary Marian apparitions. Considering the actual state of affairs in this world, however, should we be astonished? Mankind is increasingly godless in its behaviour and beliefs. Where there is a need, there is help available from Heaven. The history of Israel in the Old Testament is the illustration of this truth. The main hindrance, however, to a greater assistance from

30 I Am Your Jesus of Mercy (Queenship Pub. Co., Goletta CA, p. 8). Maria Winowska has formulated in three lines the argument on which our chapter six is based: " ... the threats of heaven are merely inverted promises and God has recourse to them only in the last resort, when all his warnings have been ineffectual." (Aux portes du Royaume: Père Branislaw Markiewicz, Téqui, Paris,1994, p. 237).

53 CHASTISEMENT AS EXPRESSION OF MERCY heavenly hosts lies in our lack of faith. If we were more receptive and appreciative, aid would be more generous and abundant. That is what faith is all about! Having made man in His image and likeness, God is understandably concerned about this creature's eternal destiny. As the mystic Don Ottavio was told on March 10, 1978: "All the calamities on earth, from the creation of man and until the end of times are nothing in comparison to a single soul incurring damnation". It is a greater loss for God's plan of love than any other conceivable disaster. That is why "all the calamities on earth'' are going to collect into one, the "great tribulation" (Mt 24: 21) which is announced for "the end of times", so great that "such has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be". That is doubtless why the Virgin explained at Kérizinen (March 20, 1960) that "many will [then] be saved from hell by their terror of the kind of death to be expected."31 In this respect, God's chastisements are the supreme expression of his mercy, the "great tribulation" more than any other, since it will insure for future generations the survival of a planet imperiled by the suicidal behaviour of its inhabitants. St Paul seems to be commenting on this dreadful, one- time catastrophe, when he writes: "Now all chastisement for the present indeed seemeth not to bring with it joy, but sorrow: but afterwards it will yield, to them that are exercised by it, the most peaceable fruit of justice" (Heb 12: 11). Such will be the case for those souls timefully shaken out of their complacency in regard to sin as for the "small remnant," the providential survivors of this visitation of God's merciful justice.

Visionaries of Kibého, Rwanda Alphonsine, Marie-Claire and Anathalie

31 J.N.S.R.: Messages depuis le secret de Marie, 4 Sept. 2005- 25 Fev. 2006, 5 ième fascicule, Résiac, Montsûrs, 2006, p. 77.

54 ALPHONSINE OF KIBÉHO

Alphonsine Mumureke in ecstasy

55 VISION OF HELL

On February 2, 1950, the Virgin Mary of Heroldsbach (bottom-left) showed a vision of hell to 5 little girls: Kuni, Erika, Gretel, Maria and Antonie. (According to the painting of A.F. Bühler).

56 FEAR IS A BAD COUNSELOR

SEVEN MALUS SUASOR EST TIMOR

ear is a bad counselor: Such is the wisdom of our times that it denies the possibility of hell. Granted, for a Catholic such a place of eternal punishment is a defined dogma.F But it must be empty. For who would want to go there, except Satan who, out of spite against God, created it as a refuge against divine charity? Even if those men St. John calls the "Antichrists" may have joined him out of a metaphysical allergy to the Good, there is no factual proof that many humans are to be found in this dismal abode of hate. A significant number of damned would contradict our conception of a God of Love who wills that all should be saved. Furthermore, the pessimism of previous times concerning the probability of damnation for the many is out of step with the present-day theology of hope. Did not Hans Urs von Balthasar suggest hell might be empty? And if it is not, did not Jacques Maritain speculate that so-called eternal retribution is not an incurable condition? Whatever the case may be, the "power of positive thinking" has relegated hell to the consistency of a hoary myth. In other words, we would like to think that what should not be, cannot be. At least the denial of hell is the outcome of a plausible alternative. The less we make of Gehenna, the more we make out of the comforting aspects of our religion. The time is gone in which Padre Pio, as a novice, could read on the wall of his convent: "Either Penance or Hell"! The illustrated catechisms of our grand-parents, that portrayed an abyss of flames peopled by monstrous demons, has afflicted generations of unsuspecting children with guilt complexes. In terms of applied psychology, neo- medieval arguments are ineffective. Think of Luther, as a young monk, searching in vain for a "merciful God" in the theology of his masters, and inventing his own religion to quiet his fears of eternal damnation!

57 OFT-QUOTED HELL ̶ 4 ̶ Luther, whose early misreading of Augustine had convinced him that mortal sin was inescapable, did indeed conceive a theology of salvation which, at first sight, was more reassuring than the one he censured. But was it realistic? Will I be saved, as he thought, because I believe that I am saved? Such was Luther's self-serving conception of faith. In the same way, are today's theologians who do not mention hell really leading more souls to heaven? The fundamental drawback of argument number seven is that it does not take Christ's own teaching into account. If any one was an authority in this field, was it not He? Yet He mentions or evokes hell more than half as often as heaven. And with good reason, given the odds. For though there are no reliable statistics, there is a lot of available data. Even if the information at hand cannot be quantified precisely, it is nonetheless convincing. For what are we to make of the expressions Christ himself used to describe the situation confronting mere mortals when he speaks of "the narrow gate", "the eye of a needle" and "the strait way"? In fact, our Saviour uses such explicit language, that its theological elucidation has resulted in several heresies: the Lutheran one, as a counterpoise to its founder's own personal Angst-neurosis, the Calvinist one, with its arbitrary predestination, the Jansenist one, with its narrow web of rigorism. Have we not been told: "Many are called, but few are chosen"? This is "a word [of Christ] that is not a mere word", declares St. Augustine, "but a thunder-clap, which the Gospel, as if to ensure that it does not go unnoticed, repeats twice" (Mt 20: 16; 22: 14). The road to hell, alas, is paved with so many good intentions that it inspires confidence!32 And yet "there are many that go thereat"! On the other hand, "how narrow is the gate and strait is the way that leadeth to life; and few are they that find it!" (Mt 7: 13-14). Through some providential configuration, the breadth of the road leading to heaven seems to have been accommodated to the rather limited traffic it has to bear. Is it not astonishing that on this very point Hans Urs von Balthasar should have challenged the teaching of the Gospel? If we wish, however, to gather information from other sources, let us consult those mystics who had a first-hand knowledge of the problem — starting with Saint Benedict Labre or Anna-Maria Taïgi. Of course,

32 Thomas Merton characterises it as "that broad and noisy highway of pragmatism which leads between its banks of flowers to the gates of despair" (The Seven Story Mountain, p. 219). 58 FEW ARE CHOSEN they describe the situation such as it was in "sin-city'', the Rome of their times! Anna-Maria, having been asked, spoke of "the fate of the people who had died on that day: very few flew into heaven, many landed in purgatory and those who fell into hell were as numerous as snowflakes in winter." St Benedict Labre, in the previous century, in a mystical dream, saw three processions, the first of which, dressed in white, was of limited length, the second, dressed in red, stretched into two rather lengthy files, whilst the third, in mourning black, seemed to have no end. According to Leonard of Saint-Maurice, "most Christian adults incur damnation."33 Although these proportions can be questioned, since they have never been authoritatively defined, they nonetheless correspond to the opinion of the majority of the saints and theologians, from St Jerome to St. up to Father Sertillanges. We challenge our readers who might disagree to come up with a list of authorities of the opposite persuasion in equally good standing. Seemingly all, whether apostles of the Gospel or visionaries of hell, as soon as they begin to quantify these mysterious realities, come to conclusions suited, not only to discourage us from ever committing mortal sin, but even from remaining lukewarm any longer. This majority opinion is that of personalities as diverse as St. , Alphonsus of Liguori

33 For the references supplied in this paragraph, cf José Ricart Torrens: Du nombre des élus (Nouvelles éditions latines, Paris, 1965). A more recent quotation confirms those of mystics of past times, which is all the more significant that it applies to our times and comes from the Virgin of Garabandal June 23, 1962): "The Virgin tells us that the world in no way has changed; ... few shall see God... " Jacques Serre - Béatrice Caux: Garabandal, F.-X. De Guibert, Paris, 1996, p. 133). On June 4,1981, at El Escorial, when she was seen weeping, the Virgin insisted, in terms which should give us pause, that She "wants that all her children be saved", or at least, "one third"(Gabriel: Premier récit authentique des apparitions de l'Escorial, F.-X. de Guibert, Paris, 1996, p. 50). If then, in our modern democracies, two thirds of the citizen are on the way to hell, should we be astonished that laws are enacted by elected officials which reflect the anti-life philosophy of the Prince of Darkness himself? After these dismal considerations, some readers might find solace in the somewhat more reassuring words of the Virgin of Medjugorje: "Very few go directly to Heaven, many go to Hell, most go to Purgatory." The question which remains unanswered is whether this statement applies to humanity in general or to the mankind of today...

59 HELL AS IT IS or Grignion de Montfort. We ourselves, can we not recall the three little seers of Fatima with their vision of hell as a boundless fire in which human forms were tossed about like sparks in a conflagration?34 We

34 According to Sister Lucia, the visionary of Fatima, reassuring speeches on this theme are out of place: "Many people, even among the pious, do not like to speak of hell to their children, for fear of frightening them. But God has not balked at showing hell to three children, one of whom (Jacinta) was hardly seven years old." Now pictures have the advantage over words that they are not in need of interpretation. They are convincing by themselves. They are obvious: "Earth opened and we found ourselves, so to speak, above Hell, as someone who, from a cliff, would stand above the sea... And we saw... a sea of fire. Plunged in this fire we could see demons and souls. The latter were as transparent embers, black or bronze-coloured, with human shapes. They floated in this conflagration, lifted up by the flarnes which issued from them, with clouds of smoke. As sparks in a great blaze, they fell back on all sides, weightless, without equilibrium, amidst cries and moans of pain and despair that horrified the onlooker and shook him with fear. The devils were distinguishable through their horrible and repugnant shapes of fearsome and unknown animals, black as glowing coals, yet transparent." Lucy tells us that, following this vision, when she saw little Jacinta pensive, she would ask her: "What are you thinking of?" Very often the answer would be: "Of the war that is to come, of all these people who will die and almost all go to hell!" Already, when this little prophetess was in the hospital and heard the reflections of the atheistic physicians, she would pity them: "Poor people! They do not know what is awaiting them!" (La Contre- Réforme catholique au XXe siècle: juin-juillet 2000, pp. 13-15, 17). From the above, we can safely conclude that the great drama of our times is that sinners are oblivious of their condition. At Heroldsbach (1949-52), the little visionaries described hell in similar, if less graphic terms, with "scorching flames, all red, high as houses" and in this "sea of flames... hideous beasts" which the devil "chased around." (Franz Speckbacher: Erscheinungen in Heroldsbach: Mediatrix-Verlag, St Andrä Wördern, Austria, 1989, p. 149). Here, as in Fatima, Heaven only shows hell to little children, perhaps because there are none in hell. Or, to teach us that the spirit of childhood will save us from hell. Heaven has not been more reassuring in recent times. ''Always more souls plunge - billions upon billions - into the abyss" (Message of January 1983 in the Premier récit des apparitions de l'Escorial by Gabriel: F.-X.

60 WHO MADE HELL? should keep in mind the severity of Christ chiding St. Theresa of Avila whom he warned, once she had converted, that she had previously been on the road to damnation, even though she had until then never fallen into mortal sin, because of the perfunctory religious life she led. What

De Guibert, Paris, 1996, p. 302). The truths of the Gospel can also be expressed in terms of proportions: "few" are the souls on the path wliich leads to salvation; "many" are those who follow the road to perdition. And this is not a hypothesis, but an affirmation. Could many souls be saved if they were made aware of the hideous reality behind these gruesome statistics? The Blessed Virgin obviously thinks so, for that is precisely what she does. But what is it that prevents priests in their Sunday homilies from doing the same? One of the reasons must be that they do not wish to ascribe to a God of infinite love the creation of such a house of torture. Not only do they give the lie to Dante's immortal verses: "Fecemi la divina Potestate, / La somma Sapienza, e'l primo Amore" ("I was made by the Power of God the Father, / the supreme Wisdom of the Son, and the eternal Love of the Holy Ghost"). By reading them literally, they misinterpret God's nature. They forget that God did not create hell, since it was fashioned by the demons and the men who are like them. When hell took shape on earth at Auschwitz, of whom was it the artifact, if not of the godless? Was it not equally the godless intelligentsia which celebrated world-wide for half-a-century the blessings of the regime that invented the Goulag? In the same way, God has no share in the abysmal reality of the "fire which never dies out" of which the death-camps were an anticipated image. The justice of God is a "justice that saves", and it is the immanent justice inherent to the revolt of the Devil, the "serpent that bites its own tail", that is the inverted image of this justice. Father Amorth, the Roman exorcist, writes that one day as he was commanding a devil to leave a possessed soul and re-enter the abode God had especially prepared for him, the evil spirit answered with a moan: "You don't know anything. It isn't Him [God] who made hell. We made it ourselves. He had not even thought of it." This happened twice. Of all spirits, Satan knows best that evil alone is responsible for evil. (Un exorciste raconte: F.-X. De Guibert, Paris, 1992, p. 29). At this point, let us not try to explain theologically how God, who sees everything, who sets a boundary to the waves of the sea and decides the fall of a sparrow, can exercise his eternal judgments without implicating Himself in the devil's misuse of power.

61 "1F I LOVE MARY, I AM CERTAIN OF PERSEVERANCE" conclusion should we draw from her example, if not that middle-of-the- road Christianity is hardly conducive to eternal welfare? If such is the law of probabilities, should we not despair? There is, thank God, a doctrine which brings comfort in spite of these uneven odds, and upon which doctors of the Church, mystics and saints agree unanimously, without a dissenting voice. This is what St. Alphonsus of Liguori formulated most cogently: "If you persevere until death in a , your salvation is certain."35 That is why Catholics should not feel less secure than Protestants with their "salvation by faith alone" theory. The "born-again Christians", Methodists or Baptists, maintain that faith, without which there is no salvation, brings with it the certainty of this election, of which it is the instrument. With us, contrariwise, the virtue of Faith is coupled with that of Hope, for which there is no substitute, so that by our trust in God, we become deserving. At the same time, Hope confers upon the devotees of Mary a privileged status, according to which the faithful who seek refuge beneath her cloak cannot perish. Numberless incidents in the lives of Saints provide us with proof of this statement. The most extreme case we know of perhaps is that of Louise Grimet, a freethinking young woman, to whom the Curé d'Ars prophesied that she would be saved in extremis because of her devotion to Mary. Jean-Marie Vianney doubtless knew that this sinner, who, during the revolt of the Commune in Paris, would be in charge of the firing squad that shot the archbishop of Paris and twelve of his priests, did not tolerate any blaspheming of Mary from her associates, and would thus undergo a last-minute conversion.36 During numerous apparitions recently, the Virgin was seen to shed 35 Quoted by Michael Malone, The Apostolic Digest (Sacred Heart Press, Irving, 1987, p. 36). The corollary consequence of all these reassuring words is that "he who does not believe in Mary, shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven", according to the Virgin of El Escorial (October 12, 1982), it being understood that this severe indictment does not apply to non-catholics of good-will. 36 Let us mention at this point the words which Maria Valtorta heard from Christ: "You have no idea how much justice is mitigated when it has the Woman as associate" (Il poema del Uomo Dio, III, p. 471). For more than one sinner, the Blessed Virgin is such as she once appeared to a converted libertine of the seventeenth century, when, rolling up her sleeve, she told him: "To save you, I plunged my arm into hell up to here." 62 PLACES OF APPARITIONS AS ROADS TO HEAVEN tears. For whom was she weeping? More especially for those Christians who were deluded by bad pastors: "Numerous priests, bishops and cardinals thread the path of perdition and lead many souls astray."37 At the moment when she mentions the perils surrounding us, Mary brings with herself in person the means to escape from them. At a time, however, where "preferential treatment of the poor" is said to be the first duty of the apostolate, it is certain that Heaven's boundless solicitude goes primarily towards the lost sheep. We are dealing here with the really destitute, those who lack the very substance of spiritual life, the state of grace. These are unhappily not in the ratio of one to a hundred as in the tale in question. Other parables are in this respect more realistic. That is why, according to Tradition, Providence has established Mary as our ultimate recourse, the refuge of sinners and the bark of salvation. As her children, we should take literally the request made to Bernadette at Lourdes: "that one should come here in procession." This was but the first of many similar demands which the Virgin made in other places of apparition to which we are invited. The web of these locations is so dense on the map that none can feel excused from going there: a providential lay-out, as if Heaven had established advanced posts in enemy territory: a spiritual reconquest to which we are personally invited. Let no one be fooled. By repeated offences, our earthly denizens would have alienated divine good will, if that were possible outside of the sin against the Holy Ghost. The emphasis is placed today on the urgency of the situation, as if the spiritual benefits or favours of all kinds were all the more assured to those who respond immediately, and that priority would be given, so to speak, to the pilgrims of the first hour. That one should come in person is self-evident. That one should attempt to convince one's friends and relatives, and especially those neglecting their religious duties, is obvious. One should exercise one's influence in favour of Mary, and messenger of Heaven. Gratitude demands that when prayers are answered, this favour should be acknowledged for the benefit of others, just as conviction entails that Marian messages should be made known to all. The unanimous testimony of the saints concerning the salvific virtue of Marian devotion is the token of its effectiveness: "No one can enter into Heaven except through Mary, as entering through a gate." (Saint ) "Not a single soul who has really persevered in her service

37 Jacques Serre - Béatrice Caux: Garabandal (F.-X. De Guibert, Paris, 1996, p. 188). 63 ''TO START TO LIVE THE LIFE OF HEAVEN ON EARTH" has ever been damned." (Saint Grignion de Montfort) "No one, not even a sinner, who devoutly recommends himself to her shall ever become prey of Hell." (Saint Catherina of Sienna) "If I love Mary, I am certain of perseverance, and I shall obtain whatever I wish from God", declares Saint John Berchmans;38 and who is he whose soul, be it as "sicklied over" with sin as the firmament is strewn with stars, that does not feel in his heart the inclination to confide in such a matchless Mother! He who knows Mary knows Heaven, and he is then in no condition to want anything else. It would be a mistake, however, on the basis of a false analogy, to equate a devotee's trust in Mary with that of the Lutheran in the salvific virtue of Faith. For the confidence of the first is addressed to a person, and what a Person! The Mother of our Redeemer, while the second is based on a theological doctrine conceived by an anguish-ridden soul as a psychological antidote to his own pathological plight.39 The soul who, in the hour of death, is sheltered by Mary, awakens in Heaven.40 The "why" of the extraordinary privilege conceded to the "children

38 Cf Michael Malone: The Apostolic Digest (Sacred Heart Press, Irving, 1987, pp. 21-40). 39 Luther, especially during his early years as a monk, suffered from such intense scruples, that these bouts of "terror, horror, pavor, timor, tremor" ("terror, horror, anxiety, fear, trepidation") at the thought of the just judgments of God, led him to conceive a self-serving theology. This novel doctrine, unheard of in the annals of the Church, had the advantage that it assured the soul that it was saved as long as it believed that it was saved, without the requirement of having to accomplish "good works". A clear case of circular thinking, if ever there was one. But panic is hardly conducive to rationality. 40 At Medjugorje, none of the seers are afraid of death. Vicka says: "Dying is nothing, it is like passing from one room of the house to another room or even, to pass from one corner of the room to another." It is true that, as Jakov, she has seen Heaven with the Gospa... (the Madonna). In 1986, the Gospa told Jelena: ''If you place your trust in me, you will not notice the passage from this life to the next one. You will start to live the life of heaven on earth. " (Sister Emmanuel: Medjugorje, les années 90 ... Le triomphe du coeur: Ed. des Béatitudes, Burtin, 1996, p. 219). What is this heaven on earth made of, if not of doing God's will? 64 "EMMA" of Mary'' is both surprising and obvious. It is surprising, since Mary is a creature, and yet she is favoured with a divine prerogative. We know, however, that God alone saves. But it is fitting that God distribute His graces of salvation through a creature, since the heart of man is only too often not suitably attuned to that of God. It is difficult for the sinner to conceive that he will receive, from Him whom he has offended, a favourable hearing. He is wrong, of course, and his lack of faith shows how heavily he is burdened by sin. However prejudiced he may be about the incommensurable mercy of God, he nevertheless still enjoys, as an ultimate opportunity, as a tenuous remainder of this spirit of childhood indispensable for salvation, an affective disposition towards his adoptive mother. Let him turn towards Mary and she will reconcile him, through repentance, to the supreme goodness in whom he had ceased to believe, and with whom he had ceased to reckon! She will help him fight the demon of despair. In this state of dereliction, calling on his mother is the ultimate recourse. According to Maria Valtorta in her "Notebooks", Christ as He was about to die on the Cross, in a last word which the Gospel does not report, uttered the cry of distress that Mary expected from Her Son: "Mother", of which He only had the time to pronounce the first syllable. By calling to Mary, He is our model.41 "Upon hearing this mysterious cry a centurion struck his chest and said: 'This man is truly the Son of God'."42 When Jesus thinks of his Mother, the sinner is converted. In the Garden of Gethsemane, the Son of Man had addressed his Father with the term children use: ''Abba", which signifies "Daddy". Thus did He teach us, by the very familiarity of the terms He used, that fatherhood is the supreme attribute of God, while motherhood is that of Mary, not only for Him, but also for us.

41 "Mother" or "Mummy" is "Emma" or "Immy" in Galilean Aramaic. This passage of the Poema dell' Uomo-Dio (IX) of Maria Valtorta could be seen merely as a pious interpretation. However, whatever truth it contains does concern us. For calling on Mary, if it is appropriate in the mouth of her dying Son, will be ever more so on our own part, at our last hour! Furthermore, the humanity of Christ is thus rendered more manifest at the moment when He is paying his due to nature. A statistical study, incidentally, has revealed that the last word uttered by dying British soldiers during World War I was, more than any other, that of "Mother"! 42 Cf. Frans;ois Mauriac: Vie de Jésus (Flammarion, Paris, 1930, p. 272). 65 Garabandal

66 ON MINIMALISM

EIGHT DE MINIMALISMO

ore is less, sive de minimalismo." "Is there no limit to the hypertrophy of the means utilized to impress the people?" is a question which is sometimes put Mto priests by people who are unaware that it is the clergy who, among Catholics, are the least responsive to what non-believers consider the apparitions-craze. The demands made by seers on the credulity of the public seems boundless. The sky is the limit, as is the case in Dozulé (Normandy: 1972 - 1978) where it is reported that Christ had asked for the erection of a cross of no less than 738 meters, in memory of the altitude above sea level of Golgotha ... The popular enthusiasm, the "happening" according to some critics, the infatuation of crowds, cheapen Marian apparitions. At the very time when churches are more than two-thirds empty on Sunday mornings, thousands of people will participate in "encounters" whose supernatural character is far from established! Religiosity, once aroused by reports of surprising events, draws crowds fevered by curiosity. This phenomenon, which might be described as bordering on collective hysteria, or a case study for group psychology, diverts credulous people from traditional practices, offers a substitute for real faith, and takes the disconcerted clergy off-balance. What then are these "happenings", this extemporizing according to obscure channels of the unconscious, these pseudo-charismatic events? ̶ 4 ̶ Our answer is that a crowd is merely the addition of individuals, each of whom remains his own master. In the present case, there is no manipulation of opinion through organizations of any kind. Everyone is a free agent. Whoever comes knows why he is there, be it the pious person who is only too happy to respond to what he sees as a call from Heaven, or the inquisitive mind who wants to find out what is really happening, or for want of a better thing to do, or even hopefully the non- believer who is merely accompanying friends or relatives. And then,

67 PRAYER AT THE COVA DA IRIA the miracle of prayer in common takes place. "Where two or three are united in my name, I am in the midst of them." 43

Dozulé

43 1t would be tautological to say that a contemporary apparition is above all a message for today. The pilgrim to the Holy Land honours the memory of Christ, the one who goes to Fatima does so in homage to the Mother of God. What was the situation, however, at the time of the three little seers of Fatima? The local priest was indignant that the crowds, rather than devotionally adoring our Lord present in the tabernacle, would go at the Cova da lria to "bow before a bush''. There is a proper time for everything however. Did not the boughs of the small tree below Maria's foot serve her as a footstool? This criticism of the priest, on the basis of an objective scale of values, is totally unrelated to reality, in this case, to the subjective element, which is so important in prayer that a mystic has maintained that, during the week, a fervent orison at home was more profitable than a mechanical attendance at mass. When the Madonna no longer appears, her faithful will then satisfy the need for prayer that she has awakened in them by an accrued devotion to the Holy Sacrament. God tells us: "Give me your heart!" If we give it to Mary, he will be equally gratified. What is important is the quality of the gift.

68 "CHARISMATICS ARE POTENTIAL SCHISMATICS''

NINE "CHARISMATICI SUNT SCHISMATICI"

his often declared a priori statement has a long history of misapplications in the course of Church history. Today there is a heightened fear that schismatic tendencies are T at work whenever groups meet without ecclesiastical approval, participation of clergy or hierarchical supervision. The comparative freedom of initiative which the Church surrendered to the laity as a result of Vatican II, has not allayed the suspicion that left to themselves, the faithful are easy prey for deception, prone to superstition or become addicted to spiritual fads. Furthermore, illuminism has in all times been a major peril of which orthodoxy has justifiably been suspicious. One can hardly approve of increased permissiveness in this domain.

̶ 4 ̶ The drawback of argument number 9 resides in the fact that it creates the very situation that it tries to avoid. The local Bishop may well refuse to be in attendance, less his presence be construed as approval; neither will he in some cases even send a priest to witness the apparitions for fear this should be interpreted as an implicit recognition of the supernatural nature of the event. The seer is then left without guidance and the flock without a shepherd. What is astonishing is that such conditions do not lead more often to those schismatic tendencies which are so often invoked as an argument against giving credence to apparitions. If increased permissiveness is now, in comparison to pre-Vatican times, standard practice, is it not because Christ himself showed us the way? When the apostles reported that a soul of good will, who was not one of the disciples, was casting out demons in His name, Jesus expressed his approval in high terms for a liberty of initiative that was crowned with success: 69 INTELLECTUALS AS POTENTIAL HERETICS "Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak of me." The apostles' negativism is counter- productive, "for he that is not against you is for you" (Mk 9: 39-40). "And he who does not reap, dissipates", Christ adds in another passage; for He approved of whoever acted on behalf of the Good without insisting on the letter at the expense of the spirit. Though established authorities do not always find fault with apparitions, they do so often enough to arouse concern. What is even more frequent is their manifest disapproval of the significance which the faithful attach to these apparitions. The fear seems to be that private revelations could exert a centrifugal power towards heterodoxy. It is as if one were dealing with a counterfeit of the real thing. Father Kaszowski, who disagrees, thinks that a closer reading of the history of the Church shows that the opposite is the case. In past centuries the really successful heresies were not the product of misguided mystical inspirations, but were the intellectual constructs of clever theologians. It is the intellectuals, and not the charismatics, who are answerable for most of the presentday confusion in matters of belief and morals in the Church. Similarly in the sixteenth century, it was scholars like Luther and Calvin who denied the Real Presence, threw out five of the seven , challenged the authority of the Pope and even negated human liberty because of their belief in predestination. And today, when Humanae vitae meets with the opposition of American theologians and German bishops, and the Gospels are "demythollogized" in Schools of Theology, while popular devotions are neglected and sin has lost its sting in the eyes of the many, it is certainly not the fault of visionaries. If Matthew, Mark, Luke and John mention hell often enough, so does the Madonna of Medjugorje, Manduria, Schio and other recent apparitions. But when did you last hear this fateful word in a sermon? Will one never cease to suspect that what is the most effective cure to present ills furthers anything but that which is good? Public Revelation and private revelations speak about the same supernatural realities, while the first is of the essence, and the second merely a timely repeat! Public Revelation and private revelations proceed from the same source, id est, from the Holy Ghost. "Now there are varieties of gifts, but only one Spirit; and there are varieties of ministries, but only one Lord; and there are varieties of workings, but only one God, who works all things in all" (1 Cor 12: 4-7). A private revelation is like a homily

70 WHAT IS SPIRITUAL ≠ WHAT IS MIRACULOUS on the Gospel on Sunday: an expounding of what was already said, a reminder of what is of Faith, and an exhortation to act accordingly. And when the message is prophetic, it is a warning for the future. If God spoke in the past, does this mean he should no longer speak in the present? If it is the same voice and the same teaching, should the message be disregarded because it is not as divinely authoritative as the Gospel?. It has nonetheless its present-day usefulness, and, given human affairs, its providential necessity.44

44 Let us consider, the expanding number of followers of Charismatic and Pentecostal sects at the present time: 589 million. This is twice more than the faithful of all other Protestant denominations combined. In South America these sects are expanding at the expense of the . If they are dynamic, it is because they answer a need. Men are thirsty for what is authentically supernatural. When they have the impression that they cannot find it in their own Church, they search for it elsewhere, even in the guise of ersatz emotional gratifications. When Mary appears, however, the supernatural is obvious, not only to the visionaries, but also to the onlookers. And the ersatz element is missing. That is why such an objective observer as the French mariologist René Laurentin deplores that apparitions currently are routinely sent into oblivion by episcopal commissions. This oblivion may be definitive, as we saw in chapter 4 for Lyon-Croix Rousse, or only tentative and temporary as for Montichiari (1947-1966) or Balestrino (1949-1971) in Italy, but it hangs as an ominous pall of disapproval on otherwise "believable" apparitions. (Laurentin alludes to those of Scottsdale (Arizona, 1987- 1993) or Emmitsburg (Pennsylvania, 1993-200?)). "Playing it safe" seems to be the guiding principle followed by such commissions. A most laudable consideration! It results only too often, however, says Father Laurentin, from a confusion between what is "miraculous" and what is properly "spiritual." The currently used expression: "non patet supernaturalitas," when applied to apparitions, throws a dark pall of disapproval both on the events and on the visionaries themselves. Undeservedly, according to Father Laurentin, when the impact of the apparitions has led to a renewal and a deepening of spiritual life. Is not genuine spirituality supernatural? Should one therefore disregard Christ's injunction: "Judge the tree by its fruit"? Thus, because of a misguided zeal, what in itself might be 71 "THE GREAT PROMISE OF EL ESCORIAL"

El Escorial

considered as "good news," is cast into outer darkness. Why penalize spiritual progress by giving it a bad name? Let us hope that the distinction made by Father Laurentin does not remain a dead letter in the future. It should not, since it was a familiar one to Cardinal Ratzinger, as quoted on the fly-leaf of this book, and expounded at length in chapter 44. (This paragraph is a summary of Father Laurentin's article "Heurts et malheurs des voyants" ("Buffets and misfortunes befalling visionaries") in Chrétiens magazine (March 15, 2003, Caumont-sur-Durance, pp. 18-19). Cf. Father Kaszowski's article: "Warum erhalten wir Privatoffenbarungen, wenn wir bereits die ganze Offenbarung durch Christus erhalten haben?" ("Why do we receive private revelations, when we have already received all of Revelation from Christ?") Das wahre Leben in Gott, 91336 Heroldsbach, Germany, January 2001, pp. 32-33).

72 GOD'S GIFTS TEN DONA DEI

od's gifts to man are already so plentiful that places of apparitions of doubtful validity cannot add Ganything or be useful. ̶ 4 ̶ One should not question God's bounty, however, by arbitrarily placing limits to his generosity. Christ showed when he was on earth that, in his presence, miracles are for the asking, as long as true faith is at hand. Should He be less benevolent when His Mother, in her elevated state of , comes as His messenger? At Heroldsbach in Germany (1949 - 1952), for example, graces of conversion rained down on the crowds who came to witness the unusual events. Such are the most precious of the wonders accompanying Mary's apparitions. At San Damiano in Italy (1961-1981), or at Medjugorje in Bosnia (1981- 20..), cures from incurable diseases are further tangible evidence of her interventions. At El Escorial in Spain (1980 - 2002), she lavishes spiritual favours on the pilgrims. Here, for instance, is what has been called "the great promise of El Escorial" (Dec.3, 1983): All those who each day pray the entire rosary, visit the Holy Sacrament, and go to confession and to communion the first Saturdays of the month, will be aware of the pains of purgatory which they deserve, without going there, and will pass directly into Heaven.45 Many other guarantees are given. Other exchanges are proposed: a pound of gold for an ounce of cooperation. I will not allow that he who prays the entire Rosary be damned (Oct. 7, 1985).46

45 Gabriel: Premier récit authentique des apparitions de l'Escorial (F.-X. De Guibert, Paris, 1996, p. 324). 46 Id. p. 329.

73 THE PROMISES OF EL ESCORIAL At El Escorial, no less than ten promises have been made by Heaven, the last of which is the following: I promise you, my children, that all of you who come here, shall be protected on the day of darkness. (June 6, 1998). The Virgin will take her children beneath her mantle. Of all the places where Mary has appeared recently, El Escorial is probably the one where she has been most generous in granting to the pilgrims assurances of salvation. It is gratifying that in this particular instance the religious authorities responsible seem favourably disposed. Happy are we to be thus reassured, for we have also been forewarned: The chastisement befalling the earth shall be the fire produced by the fall of a heavenly body. Those who will be in a state of grace shall in no way be affected by it. They will be as if in a state of rapture.47 It seems appropriate at this point to quote the Apocalypse 16: 8-9: And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues; and they repented not to give him glory." Happy therefore shall be those who in those days will "give glory" to God! On the part of the elect, praise does not cease even in the very heart of tribulation, as for the "three young men in the furnace" whom the fire spared (Dn 3).

El Escorial seer Amparo Cuevas

47 Quoted in Chrétiens magazine, Feb. 2003, pp. 16 and 20: Jean Christophe. - On this question of the forthcoming tribulation, see chapter 14: "De ratione divina."

74 EITHER RATIONALISM OR SUPERSTITION

ELEVEN SIVE RATIONALISMUS, SIVE SUPERSTITIO

f these two extremes, which is the worst? They are both nurtured by non-authenticated apparitions. Rationalism, the tendency to negate the supernatural in the nameO of logic, common-sense or science, is comforted in its negativism when unproven miraculous events are reported. Superstition, on the other hand, grows in the hot-bed of private revelations of a dubious nature. Between these two pitfalls, the local clergy tries to find the security of a compromise by issuing a "non patet de supernaturalitate" ("the supernaturality of the events is not established").

̶ 4 ̶ What credit should we grant apparitions? Obviously, one should avoid both pitfalls: rationalism and superstition. Rationalists are leery of what is supernatural. It frightens them. They prefer to ignore it. "Yes, Christ, must have performed miracles, bur those were in former times." On the other hand, people who are superstitious are fond of what is supernatural, but they tend to relate it narrowly or arbitrarily to certain practices to which they are addicted. This does not prevent both parties from being occasionally staunch believers. But for their faith, the supernatural, when it manifests itself ad extra is a severe test: a stumbling block for the first, a pull towards the irrational for the second. Faced with this double peril, the responsible authorities, on the basis of their knowledge of past centuries, choose negativism. So many apparitions, they say, were doubtful or fraudulent! The rationalists who are believers do not deny the reality of the miracles, dreams or visions to be found in the Gospels. But outside of

75 GRATITUDE IS DUE this scriptural context, they will not accept, on principle, what seems unconventionally new, and all the more so when it is of recent origin. Proximity in time or space is unacceptable in a miracle, it would seem. In contrast, the superstitious souls are so much in love with wonders they keep discovering new ones, to which they react with an admixture of exaltation and devotion. In an argument, the rationalists are in the better position because they are methodical, and because they enjoy the approbation of the media. In comparison, the superstitious souls seem to outnumber them, but this impression only arises because public opinion lumps them together with the true followers of Christ. The authentic disciples of Christ should not be confused with either the one or the other. What is distinctive about them is the quality of their prayer. Piety is the only adequate response to a manifestation of the supernatural. When the supernatural is at hand, gratefulness is due. The spirit of childhood is awakened when Christ or the blessed Virgin manifest themselves. The first lesson taught to little children is to say, "thank you." The virtue to be learned at Medjugorje, Schio or Manduria, is the most neglected and necessary of virtues, namely gratitude. How can one tell that a practice is genuine? It leads to praise. The pilgrim who showers Heaven with his thanks has already begun to fulfill on earth what will be his occupation in eternity; for it is addressed to the advocate of lost causes. Is there a better reason for praying the rosary than the proximate presence of the one to whom this prayer is addressed? This is hardly a favour that one can turn down. These considerations should make obvious the prejudice of rationalism and the bias of superstition vis-à-vis Marian apparitions. The rationalists refuse to believe in what disturbs their intellectual complacency, and they dissuade lukewarm souls from rekindlihg the fervor of their religion, while the superstitious seek, especially on a pilgrimage, an excuse for a change of setting and are more susceptible to group pressure. In any case, a pilgrimage is not just for the spiritually healthy, but precisely for the sick, and that includes per definitionem the superstitious. Christ preferentially sat at the table of sinners. Every sinner is a Naaman who shuns a plunge in the cold waters of the Jordan. If he listens to Mary, as this leprous Syrian did to the prophet, he shall be reborn...

76 THE PLAN OF SALVATION

TWELVE ŒCONOMIA SALUTIS

iracles served as proofs of the authenticity of Revelation, both with the prophets of the Old Testament, and with Christ and his apostles. God was setting His sealM on a teaching that will endure forever. For such a high purpose wonders were necessary. Doubtless, they can happen in response to lesser finalities as they did at Fatima. But such interventions have remained in the past so exceptional, most people think they should remain so. Isn't there some kind of principle, similar to that of subsidiarity, according to which God intervenes directly only in a minimalist way? If Providence rules the world, which is quite certain, and history unfolds according to divine foresight, why should the laws of nature be infringed here and there? Miracles should not occur at random! In His universal governance God submits, so to speak, to that very necessity which He created. What an admirable and judicious economy! God bows before contingencies He could dispense with, and renounces exerting His omnipotence openly, so that we may believe in His word rather than in His wonders.

̶ 4 ̶ "The economy of salvation" is invoked here as a limit to the visible exercise of God's omnipotence. We cannot understand God's decision, however, as to the when, where and frequency of His direct interventions. Christ said of the scribes and the pharisees: "If I had not accomplished these signs and miracles, they would be without sin." "To convince the world of sin": is this expression outdated? What is mercy to some, is judgment to others. God is not weary. He does not give up, and the means at His disposal to reach the hearts of men are not measured. Would it not be astonishing if it were up to us to decide to set the limits to God's mercy? "It is forbidden to God to perform miracles in this place," wrote an eighteenth century pamphleteer concerning the Jansenist convulsionaries of Saint- Médard. Many theologians seem to think this formula should also apply 77 THE VIRGIN OF EMMITSBURG... elsewhere. Let us not beg the question, however. If the apostles were announcing prophetically eschatological events in a tone of urgency which seems out of place for their times, may we not fear that this importunity is perfectly appropriate for our own century? Let us read the Apocalypse, if we want to be enlightened, and we shall see that divine interventions, outside the limits our mind might wish to ascribe to them, seem programmatically appropriate today.48 Everything is related to everything else, because everything relates to God. But man prefers to forget that Heaven relates to earth so as to be able to intervene by whatever means are most fitting to the occasion. But to whom is this of concern? Fot the time being, there are seemingly more important things to do, in the eyes of current opinion, than to evaluate the contents of messages from beyond. Even in the seventeenth century, Louis XIV did not respond to the request which an obscure nun of Paray-le-Monial communicated to him, promising him victory if he placed the image of the Sacred Heart on his banners. In the same way, in our day, a sovereign whose indiscretions were more publicized than those of the Roi-Soleil, received a message to put an end to a greater misdeed than adultery. In the spring of 1994, the Blessed Mother dictated a letter to Gianna Talone-Sullivan at Emmitsburg for president Clinton's benefit, assuring her that it would reach its addressee. "But she did not say how." "About a month later, on July 5, Gianna was standing in her kitchen," when her sister broke in and informed her that President Clinton was on

48 "This know also," wrote St Paul to Timothy, "that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof... " (2 Tim 3: 1-5, King James Bible). Especially covetousness, blasphemy, disobedience to parents on the part of the young, love of pleasures more than love of God, and religiosity without religion, are not all these features proper to our age?

78 AND THE PRESIDENT the eighteenth tee of the golf course adjacent to the Sullivan's house. "Gianna grabbed the letter and bolted out of the backdoor... and ran up to the President, without being intercepted by his secret service agents. (What are the odds of that happening?) As he finished the eighteenth hole, she called, "Mr. President?" He walked over to her. She shook his hand and said, "I'm Dr. Sullivan. God bless you." Then she gave him the letter. Nonplused, the President replied: "Well, Dr. Sullivan, thank you very much", as he pocketed the envelope. In substance, the theme of the letter was: "There is no country in the history of creation to which God has been more generous than towards the United States. You are the leader of the free world, and as such, you must protect life in all its stages."49 As events have shown, it would have been difficult to find a Chief of State less likely to comply with a heavenly request of this kind. But our Lady is no less solicitous of the soul of a President than she is of the survival of the unborn.

Dr. Gianna Talone-Sullivan

49 Cf. Dom Forker: Our Lady of Emmitsburg, Queenship Publishing Co. Goleta, CA 2000, pp. 96-97, and videos made at Emmitsburg.

79 Our Lady of Kibého

80 SECOND PART

A place of apparitions is a hospital for shattered lives. Just as Padre Pio, the Good Samaritan that he was, had a hospital built at San Giovanni Rotondo, the Virgin recently has multiplied over the face. of the earth hospitals for souls, where the Sacrament of Penance, neglected elsewhere, is making a comeback.

81 82 QUEEN OF PROPHETS THIRTEEN REGiNA PROPHETARUM

ary deserves this title, both because she fulfilled the prophecies and in her prophesied in person. Furthermore, as the mother of Christ,M she now reigns over all those who announced her Son's coming. But the self-appointed prophets of today can hardly claim to speak in her name, for they lack the authority of canonical Revelation, or the aura of biblical texts. Furthermore, they are so numerous and their predictions are so variegated that they sow confusion and dishearten the faithful by instilling gloom in announcing impending disasters. Also, even such hallowed figures as Melanie of La Salette and Don Bosco seemed to confuse the issue, the first, undeservedly of course, when partly spurious version of her eschatological visions circulated, and the second by asking that the date 1998 be chiseled in stone on his Church of Maria Auxiliatrix. However, Don Bosco was happily dissuaded from carrying out his wish. 1998 did not seem as eventful as he thought it would be.50 As for the visionaries of Garabandal, they lost all credibility when they foretold tremendous eschatological events which were to take place before the year 2000. ̶ 4 ̶ It is quite true that in the matter of chronology prophecies tend to be unreliable. Furthermore, from one visionary to the next, they can seem to be conflicting. But it is mistake to interpret them in the same literal way as did Jonas, who was dismayed when Nineveh was not

50 Of course, there is always the possibility that the dates foretold had a greater meaningfulness than we were aware of at the time. We could, following Father Oddi, divide the first two thousand years of Christendom into three ages: 1 - 666, that of Evangelisation; 667 - 1336, that of the Flowering of Faith; 1337 - 1998, that of the Decline of Faith. In this perspective, 1998 would be the axis, on the eve of the great crisis of the Church, and consequentially of its great renewal, of which the Marian apparitions would be the heralding dawn.

83 SOME "SUCCESSFUL" PROPHECIES destroyed. He had not realized that the great town he had seen reduced to rubble was the Nineveh of sin, and not the Nineveh of repentance. Prophecy is not "history before history," according to Father Laurentin's brilliant formula.51 For it is not possible to remember the future as if it were the past, and as if we would be granted to relive what we already know. Prophecy is merely an intimation either of what might happen, or of what will happen. Which of these alternatives applies to a given situation? Human liberty has to play its part. God does not share even with his angels his own vision of things to come. He merely lifts the veil shrouding mysteries for the fraction of a second, as it were, enough for a forewarning, but not for a knowledge commensurate with that of things past. We must respect the duality according to which much of the future is as immutably fixed as the northern star, while even more seems contingently related to man 's own use of his freedom. In respect to this latter point, prophecies are useful, helpful and necessary. Let us consider Lucy of Fatima's announcement that a sign in the sky would herald the beginning of World War II. This unusual "aurora borealis" sealed in 1938 with a sign from Heaven her request for the consecration of Russia to the . Not all prophecies are of such history- shaking import. Many however serve as credentials. In Garabandal (1961-1965), the little girls announced the forthcoming Council and Paul VI's later trip to Israel. In Amsterdam (1945-1959), Ida Peerdeman foretold the creation of the State of lsrael and man's trip to the moon. At Kibého (1981-1985), in Rwanda, the children saw "rivers of blood" flowing. Blessed were the pilgrims who then took the cue and bettered their ways, before genocide flooded their land. More gratifying were words of Mary to Julia, the visionary of Naju in South Korea on Nov. 26, 1989: "Thanks to prayer and sacrifice, many souls will convert, and it is then that world-peace will be established. Furthermore, the borders of North Germany will disappear... the barbed-wires between North Korea and South Korea will disappear." 52 What has already happened confers plausibility on what has not yet happened. Short-term predictions are but one of the signs authenticating

51 René Laurentin, Michel Corteville: Découverte du secret de la Salette; Fayard, Paris, 2002, p. 144. 52 Jörg Müller: Warum erscheint Maria so oft? (Mediatrix-Verlag, St Andrä-Wördern, 1999, p. 55).

84 ON UNDERSTANDING PROPHECIES Marian apparitions, besides cures, conversions and the revitalizing of traditional devotions. They also bestow believability on long-term prophecies, such as those familiar to the devotees of Garabandal, El Escorial and Manduria, the eschatological character of which is obvious, even though Mary is not announcing the "end of time," but the biblical "end of times," in an allusion to the Apocalypse (12: 14) and Daniel (12:7): "a time, and times and half a time." According to Maria Valtorta, "the times" in question are the past two thousand years of Christianity. Chronology is not the only problem. For what has been prophesied may have been announced in a spiritual sense. , heavily burdened by the hardships of her imprisonment, interpreted literally the promise made by Heaven: "You shall soon be delivered." At the moment of her execution, however, she understood what it was, from which she was to be liberated. She then had the lucidity and the heroism to proclaim: "My voices have not deceived me!" Who, outside of the Virgin Mary, would have greeted the words of the angel concerning the conception of Jesus otherwise than in terms of an earthly kingdom? Those words were true, but not literally in reference to the immediate future, that is, the time he was to spend on earth: "He shall be great... and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, and he shall be king of the house of forever... " Let us remind ourselves that the "throne" thus promised will be that of the Cross, and that the secular triumph announced would begin with the abjection of the execution reserved for slaves! Jesus started his reign just when his domination seemed forever compromised. "My kingdom is not of this world," Christ assures Pilate. On earth, this Kingship begins with a crowning with thorns. Chronology might appear at fault, but the prophecy was being accomplished under what seemed to be its opposite. Let us not rush, therefore, to doubt the veracity of an announcement which has been made of a certain event, even at a precise date, because it can have taken place before eyes blinded by prejudice. If a pagan like Plato in his Republic could foresee that the "perfectly just man" would be the one whom the populace would want to "crucify," this implicit prophecy, based on Socrates' death, must give us pause. Our world has been inflicted, as a consequence of original sin, with a conflict between "being" and "appearance" which, in times of crisis, is resolved in blood. How remote are we, who lack Plato's genius, to

85 THE EMINENT DIGNITY OF PROPHETS measure by their real price the events we witness! A seminal truth, the meaning of which will only be revealed later, because shrouded today, can only be known through a charism which is too exclusive to be appreciated when it expresses itself. That is why false prophets are those which have a hearing, while the true ones, like Luz Amparo of El Escorial, are physically assailed by miscreants or treated with scorn as Mamma Rosa of San Damiano was by her bishop. Let us not be dismayed if Heaven, who is addressing us through "little ones," should speak a language that we do not always understand! Do we not, at least in part, share current illusions? The greater the saint, the more his undertakings are misconstrued, and of all people, by the well-meaning.53 The more authentic the apparition, the more it will incur enmity. The worse treatment it can receive, however, is perhaps the indifference of the learned. Let us not forget the text of (3: 7): "Surely, the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." St. Paul has crowned with an eminent dignity those whom we tend, in spite of Amos' words, to relegate among the lesser workers in our Lord's vineyard. When it comes to assigning a rank to the tillers of graces Heaven has chosen for ministering to its earthly flock, let us not disparage those we are most indebted to. "God has placed some in the Church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers; after that miracles, then gifts of healing, services of help, power of administration, and the speaking of various tongues" (1 Cor 12: 28; see also Eph 4: 11-13). One has the impression, judging by current practice, that the "power of administration" has preempted all other functions. Were it not that the "teachers" who come in third, are also given a hearing, which present-day theologians, only too often, do not deserve. With their modernism, they have sown the seed of confusion and division among both clergy and laity. The prophets, on the other hand, who rank second in Paul's list, are overlooked, a policy in contradiction with Vatican II's promotion of "charisms." Alas, "illuminism" is a label often misapplied. The "experts," or in current parlance, the "periti," do not gladly surrender their preeminence in the media. As a result, only too often the lamp that

53 As Jesus said to his disciples: "If they persecuted me, they will persecute you" (John 15: 20).

86 ELECTED BY PROVIDENCE was meant "to give light to all in the house" is "put under a bushel" of neglect, sarcasm or disdain (Mt 5: 15). St. Paul, as an apostle, was both.''teacher" and "prophet". Once converted, this of Gamaliel had the necessary qualification to be a teacher. This profession deals with a science, that of theology: properly speaking, the record of what the Revelation is all about. But Paul likewise was endowed with the gift of prophecy, which is both the art of foretelling the future and of relating past revelations to present situations. This art is considered a charisma, in other words, a supernatural faculty received directly from Heaven. As preacher of the Gospel, Paul was both recognized and qualified by the Church. As a visionary, however, he received direct communications from Heaven. This latter function was more intrinsically supernatural. Similarly, theologians repeat what they have learnt from their predecessors or from books while prophets·receive directly their instructions from Heaven. Hence what we call their prophetic mission and their eminent dignity. The first are laborers in the vineyards of the Lord, the second are beacons lighting up our way. The first are chosen by their bishops, the second are elected by Providence. Alas, only too often will Churchmen untrained in be asked to pass judgment on apparitions of the Virgin whose messengers they distrust. Misapplied authority can cancel the effectiveness of a revelation which, though considered "private", was meant for the benefit of many. Only too often are God's gifts wrapped in unprepossessing appearances. Has not the proper attitude towards authentic visionaries already been dictated to us by Christ? "He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward" (Mt 10: 41). We are thus assured of a benefit securely tied to a supernatural gift which we do not ourselves enjoy. Pope John Paul II in Tertio millenio anno (1994) asks that we recognize this gift of prophecy in the Church, especially as an "agent of the new evangelisation." 54 Woe to those who refuse to greet

54 Quoted by Dudley Plunkett: Heaven Wants To Be Heard (Fowler Wright Books, Leominster, 1997, p. 138). I would say that the gift of which the Pope speaks is, in fact, in the cases mentioned in these pages, the spiritual leaven of an apostolate inspired directly by Mary during her recent apparitions.

87 "IN GOD'S INSTRUMENT, IT IS GOD THAT LIVES" the envoys of the Great King! The invitation to the nuptials of His Son shall be addressed to others than to those who had first been chosen. Maria Valtorta, with an astonishing insight into the suspicion which would greet the publication of her prophetic work, went so far as to establish a parallel between Saul, persecutor of the Church, and those whom she calls euphemistically, "the learned ones": Those who today oppress the little voices that speak in the name of God should diligently meditate on this "Why dost thou persecute me?" (addressed to Paul).They should learn that they are persecuting the Word, and tremble at the thought. In God's instrument, it is God that lives. He does not live there in an ordinary way, but in an extraordinary way. Here human personality is merely a veil hiding the Holy of Holies. Thus, one who is the slightest of all in terms of age, experience or knowledge can find himself the object of an eminent election and called to a position for which he would least be expected to fill, as Joan of Arc chosen by Heaven to lead an army: ''A child shall lead them," said Isaiah, alluding to the nations (Is 11: 6). As we have seen, Amos assures us that God reveals what he will do to the prophets (Am 3: 7). That is why, adds Maria Valtorta, it is perilous to deny that the Word could speak through these "little voices," and those who do so, "the new rabbis," thus unwittingly prepare the way for the enemies "who are getting ready to persecute God in his idea, in the Church of God, in the faith." 55

55 Leçons sur l'Epître de Saint Paul aux Romains (Centro editoriale Valtortiano, Isola del Liri, 1999, pp. 41-48). Maria Valtorta, in her commentary, judges severely those whom she compares to the Chaldeans who set on fire "the House of God," or to the destructive Romans who "attacked... the immaterial entity that, in the mind of the Jews, filled up.... the Temple." Science can be a tool of destruction against what is good. For, says Maria, "a wealth of knowledge is rarely a source of salvation." She applies to those whom Pascal calls the demi-savants, the proverb according to which "it is difficult for him who has seized a treasure to escape from being assailed by thieves" (Lk 12, 33-34). A misused competency thus becomes the equivalent of an abduction arousing diabolical cupidity.

88 CARDINAL RATZINGER The gift of prophecy is not only the knowledge of what is hidden to man, for instance, the future, but also the unexpressed thoughts of fellow-men, or the secrets of their past. When the Curé d'Ars or Padre Pio read the conscience of their penitents as in an open book, they were being just as prophetic as when they announced forthcoming events. Many of the visionaries mentioned in our pages now and then enjoyed this supernatural insight into the recesses of the hearts of people they had never met before. As was to be expected from him, Benedict XVI, already in his days as Cardinal Ratzinger, on this topic of prophecy, adopted the broader view: "It is fitting," he says, "to take into account that prophecy in the biblical sense does not mean the prediction of the future, but the elucidation of the will of God for the present, and thereby the indication of the straight road for the future. He who foretells the future satisfies the curiosity of the reason that wishes to unveil the future; the prophet, however, responds to the blindness of the will and of the mind, and sheds light on the will of God as to its requirement and intimation for the present. In this case, the prediction of the future is of secondary importance. What is essential is the updating of the unique revelation which concerns me deeply: the prophetic word is a warning or again a consolation, or even both simultaneously." 56 The prophet Elias, who never died, remains the living symbol of the perennial presence among men of that very charism for which he is famous. What the future Pope was emphasizing, however, is how today's man could profit from today's prophecy. For how can he benefit from what has not already happened? And yet he can, as shown above. Another benefit resulting from the prophecies of the past bear upon what for him is the present. Such was the point which Christ made as he was about to return to the Father: "And now I have told you before it comes to pass, so that when it has come to pass you may believe" (John 13: 39).

56 "Comprendre le sens du message de Fatima. Commentaire théologique... Documentaire catholique du 16 juillet 2000 , pp. 687- 683," in Chrétiens Magazine, 15 avril 2007, p. 26.

89 THE CIRCULARITY OF PROPHECIES

The supernatural character of the announcement is confirmed by the realization of what was announced. Belief ensues for the "good of heart" who are confronted by a wonder no less great than that of the healing of the halt and the blind or the quickening of the dead. The Greeks, with their deterministic outlook, thought that history repeated itself according to a rigid pattern of every 6000 years. Similarly, there is a circularity of prophecies, so that the Old Testament, according to , is a "figure" of the New Testament. It provides us with prophecies that apply no less to the immediately forthcoming events, for instance in the days of Isaiah, than to our own eschatological times today. As confirmation of this principle, which was already clear to the Fathers of the Church, we can mention the Magnificat of Mary, made up of Biblical quotations, or the prophecies of the Virgin of La Salette which correspond, paragraph by paragraph, to the text of lsaiah (Is 24: 1-6):

ISAIAH LA SALETTE "Behold, the Lord will lay "If my people do not want to waste the earth and make it submit, I will be forced to let go desolate, and he will twist its the hand of my Son... God shall surface and scatter its inhabitants. strike in a way without example. And it shall be, as with the people Woe unto the inhabitants of the so with the priest; as with the earth! slave, so with his master; as with Woe unto the priests and to the maid, so with her mistress; those who are consecrated to As with the buyer, so with .the God... God shall vent his anger, seller...The earth shall be utterly and no one will be able to escape laid waste and utterly despoiled; from so many evils together. For the Lord has spoken this There will be a generalized word. war that will be frightful... The earth mourns and withers, People will kill one another, the world languishes and withers; will massacre each other in the the heavens languish together very houses. with the earth. They must expect to drink The earth lies polluted under the cup of the wrath of God. its inhabitants; for they have 90 "THE EARTH SHALL BE AS A DESERT" transgressed the laws, violated the All that men sow, the beasts statutes, broken the everlasting will eat. Everyone will want to covenants. be superior to Neighbours. Civil Therefore a curse devours and religious authority will be the earth, and its inhabitants abolished; all order and all justice suffer for their guilt; therefore will be trampled under foot. the inhabitants of the earth are If the crops are spoiled, it will scorched, and few men are left." be on your account. Men's sins are cause of all the ills befalling the earth. God will forsake mankind... and send chastisements in series... Society finds itself on the eve of the most dreadful plagues... The earth shall be as a desert." 57

In the same way, the major Episodes of the life of Christ are reduplicated in the life of his bride, the Church. One of them, which is especially manifest at this point in history, is the way in which the message of the Gospel is contested by the leaders of our modern societies at the very moment, in paradoxical contrast, when the Pope enjoys in his appearances and his trips an enthusiastic reception reminiscent of Christ's entrance into Jerusalem on the eve of His Passion. This parallel is significant and pregnant of things to come for the Church that should be quite as dramatic for her, as for her Lord and Master. That the Resurrection followed closely on the heels of the Passion should likewise give us reasons to hope and believe, beyond the traumas of tomorrow, in the Church's forthcoming triumph in time, before its ultimate fulfillment in eternity.

57 Taken from Le Sourire de Marie, (F-53150, Montsûrs, April 2007, pp. 46-47.) Isaiah from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Oxford Un. Press, New York, 2002. 91

Nuestra Señora alada del Apocalypsis Miguel de Santiago

92 CONCERNING GOD'S DESIGNS FOURTEEN DE RATIONE DIVINA

od's designs are inscrutable. Who can fathom them? The future is too uncertain for our conjectures. Saul was rebuked by 's ghost when he consulted the witch of Endor. The predictions which pass as Gospel-truths at Medjugorje, Garabandal, El Escorial and elsewhere, may answer the pilgrims' queries, but they arouse fears that are contrary to peace of mind and to a spirit of trust in a benevolent Providence. What are we to think of the impending "Warning" which is to reveal to us the full extent of our sinfulness or of the "miraculous sign" which is meant to convert Russia or of the "chastisement" that will depopulate the world? To add credence to such announcements is contrary to the spirit of simplicity of St. Theresa of Lisieux's "little way." Perfection does not reside in revelations dispelling the uncertainties of tomorrow, but in our trust in God's good will. The mysteries surrounding the future cannot be dissipated. Of what use is it to know that this or that event will take place? Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. ̶ 4 ̶ Who would disagree with the above-mentioned wisdom? It is true that the humility of "little souls" is the reason for their lack of curiosity. This hardly applies to the self-complacent sinner, be he an inveterate one or an occasional one. That is why if he reads the Apocalypse, it should shake him out of his indifference. Did not the apostles threaten with dire consequences the faithful whose lukewarm commitment to Christ weakened the dynamics of conversion among the heathens? They announced the forthcoming return of the Son of Man. Is not the Virgin repeating this prophecy with an urgency that it could not have had in the early centuries? Here then is, according to convergent sources, the eschatological teaching of Mary for today's Christians. 58

58 Consider and understand, my children, that you are living in apocalyptic times... " (From the public message of the Virgin to the seers of Maracaibo (Venezuela), Juan Antonio and José Luis, on March 16, 1993. The incomprehension by which the Virgin 's message is met is due to the fact that the people who do not believe in the authenticity of contemporary 93 IDA PEERDEMAN If precipitation is imprudent, however, procrastination is inappropriate. Prophecies are authenticated by their accomplishment. When they are phased and staged in time, their partial fulfilment can be considered a partial demonstration. The Virgin of Amsterdam (1945-1951) announced to the visionary, Ida Peerdeman, a secretary, the calling of a Church council 11 years before it happened, that men would walk on the moon 22 years before its time, and the Ida Peerdeman fall of the wall dividing Germany 38 years before the event. Once the first prediction had been confirmed in 1962, should one have interpreted this astonishing confirmation as the proof of a diabolical prescience rather than as the sign of a supernatural intervention? In any case, one had to wait until 2001 before the Amsterdam apparitions were recognized for what they were. Yet, interpreting prophecies is not a science or a calling. Is their ratification by Virgin of Amsterdam facts, however, a proof of their authenticity Lady of All Nations or not? What finally convinced the bishop of Amsterdam in 2001 were the fruits of conversion he observed.

Marian Apparitions are also usually those who are convinced that they are not living in eschatological times. This is regrettable, since their blindness - if not their conduct, which we are not alluding to here - can best be explained in terms of the following text: "And as it was in the days of , so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man

94 "THE WARNING" As far as the future of humanity is concerned, the trials and sufferings generated by the sins of humanity will constitute a kind of "Pre-Warning". They may have already started with the first of "the seven vials of the wrath of God" (Apocalypse XVI:1-2) that are to be "poured upon the earth"? What is AIDS if not the "noisome and grievous sore upon the men who bear the mark of the beast, and upon them who worship his image?" 59 Next will come the "Warning", and it shall deserve its name, as a mysterious "cosmic event affecting the whole world" and that will even bring some people to "die of fear." It shall consist in a shedding of "God's light upon the conscience and heart of every man": a distinct revelation of "all the evil he has committed and all the good he has omitted." Through its awesome physical presence and its prodigious inner impact,

is revealed" (Lk 18: 26-30, King James version). The optimism of conformism found among many believers, however, should not be confused with the spiritual blindness of sinners whose main purpose in our time seems to be to return to a pagan way of life. The outcome of their unperceptiveness is that they progressively give up on the Christian substratum of our western world and overrule prohibitions based on the natural law, such as those forbidding the murder of the pre-born and the elimination of the terminally ill and aged, or those proscribing adultery and sexual aberrations. The consequences of this denial of traditional ethical values have led to abortion and euthanasia, divorce and sodomy and a philosophy totally at variance with objective truth. Only what is "politically correct " becomes the norm. 59 (King James Version). It is well-known that in the West the spread of Aids was initially related to homosexuality or drug addiction. Thus it is because of those ''cujus deus venter est" that one can speak here of the "ulcer" as the "mark of the Beast." As usual the punishment that fits the crime strikes blindly at times and the innocent have to suffer in the cases of contamination through transfusion or birth. That the remedy lies in abstention rather than in contraceptives is shown by the fact that the African countries with the highest proportion of Catholics are also by far those with the lowest percentage of Aids victims. More frightening, however, than the ulcer mentioned above is the one that heaven is keeping in store to chastise the practice of infanticide in utero. And deservedly so. If homosexuality is a sin "that cries to heaven," surely 95 "THE GREAT MIRACLE''. . . humans will recognize it as a "call to order" issuing "directly from God," 60 a clarion-call shaking us out of our usual spiritual complacency, confronting us with our own personal responsibility. As a counterpoint, less than a year afterwards, the "Great Miracle" will take place, the greatest wonder in fact "that Jesus ever performed for the world. It shall be impossible to doubt that [it] is from God and...

the murder of the Innocents is the shortest road to hell. It is perceived by God as a direct assault against the Motherhood of Providence. Let us not overlook the warning which the Virgin addresses to us through the visionary Agatha Molki: "This is the last time that I warn people to give up abortion. If they do not do so, they shall fall ill with ulcers in their bodies." (At Valkensward, Netherlands, April 17, 1999. Cf Stella Maris: March 2002, p. I 0: ''Apparitions de la Dame de tous les peuples ... '). 60 It should take place less than a year before the "Great Miracle" Jacques Serre - Béatrice Caux: Garabandal, F.-X. de Guibert, Paris, 1996, p. 67). This warning, which was announced in the sixties at Garabandal, has also been foretold in other places of apparitions, for instance at El Escorial in Spain to Amparo Cuevas, on December 4, 1982: "Soon, my daughter, will come a Warning. It shall be a warning for all of mankind" (Gabriel: Premier récit authentique des apparitions de l'Escorial, F.-X. de Guibert, Paris, 1996, p. 317).The same thing was prophesied in Venezuela on December 11, 1996: "One day, not too far removed, shall come when God will give to the world a great sign through which the hearts will be moved if they accept the grace of God with humility'' (Xavier Reyes- Ayral: Un message d'amour; Résiac, Montsûrs, 1997, p. 143). From Gianna Talone of Emmitsburg (USA), we hear the same announcement. According to her, the warning will give us the possibility to improve the state of our soul, which it will illuminate, thus enabling us to say either "yes" or "no" to God. Since we will see our soul, we will also enjoy the possibility of changing our lives or not. Mercy has but two extremes, there is no middle ground. (Dom Forker: Our Lady of Emmitsburg, Queenship Publishing Co., Goleta , California, 2000, p. 144). There will be an infusion of the truth of God in the soul of each person... Everyone in the world will know that God exists and thus enjoy the possibility of changing. (Video: Unbridled Mercy: The Mercy Foundation, Mundelein, Illinois).

96 MARY AS MOTHER OF THE CHURCH

"A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars"(Ap 12:1) according to Dürer

97 AT GARABANDAL & MEDJUGORJE is intended for the good of humanity. A sign shall remain forever [as a proof] that this miracle has happened... This sign will be such that it can be filmed and shown on television." 61 These were the words of the announcement made at Garabandal to Conchita, in October 1962, which the Virgin later confirmed to the other visionaries. A similar announcement in less explicit language was made at Medjugorje, where "a sign" shall remain also at the location of the first apparitions on the Podbro mountain. 62 In both cases, we "will be informed shortly before," eight days ahead by Conchita for Garabandal, 63 ten days ahead

61 F. Sanchez-Ventura y Pascal: La Vierge est-elle apparue à Garabandal? (Nouvelles Editions Latines, Paris, 1966, p. 220). 62 Dudley-Plunkett: Heaven Wants to Be Heard (Fowler Wright Books, Leominster Herefordshire, 1997, p. 112). See also in Manduria by Christian Parmantier and André Castella (Ed. du Parvis, Hauteville/Switzerland, 1999, p. 144), the following dialogue between Maria and the visionary Debora: "Maria: My daughter, make known to the ministers of God that the time of the great sign in the sky is approaching rapidly. Debora: What sign, my Lady? Maria: My daughter, it shall be the decisive sign for the conversion of Russia. It shall be great and terrifying for those who do not put their trust in the Lord God. It shall be a happy sign for those who have placed their hope in the Lord, while suffering all kinds of humiliation. At that moment, many will be cured from infirmity." Apparently, the Virgin wanted to point out that the "Great Miracle" announced at Garabandal was the "sign" which would bring about the conversion of Russia. Or she may have been alluding to the "Warning". On the other hand, the "sign" announced in Venezuela ( cf. note 60) could more properly be assigned to the "Great Miracle. " What is important is not our understanding perfectly the intentions of Providence, but their supernatural efficacy. 63 As far as Garabandal is concerned, it must be noted that the delays announced have not been respected: "In 1970, Conchita and Mari-Loli affirmed concerning these foretold events: 'In 2000, all will have taken place "' (Cf. supra: Garabandal p. 158). It is therefore to be expected that following "a general disaffection, " there shall be "but few people in the village to witness the great miracle" (p. 156). 98 "THE THREE DAYS OF DARKNESS" for Medjugorje. 64 Then will occur, in case of humanity's failure to respond, the event which has been announced by so many prophets that it would be fastidious to name them all: "the Three Days of Darkness," a cataclysm resulting from the fall of a heavenly body or of several asteroids, possibly displacing the axis of the earth. In other words, it would be "the Great Tribulation" mentioned by Matthew, a catastrophe "such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be" (24: 21). This evocation of Daniel (12: 1) does not apply to the end of the world, explains the apostle, since "except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved"; "for the elect's sake" however, "those days shall be shortened" (24: 22). 65

64 Men of good faith should not worry: they shall be aware of what is happening. In the Gospel of John, when Christ speaks of miracles, he uses the word "sign." The Virgin, John's adoptive mother, uses the same term to describe the way in which we shall be forewarned: "Our Lady told us," says Juan-Antonio Gil, one of the seers of Venezuela, "that there will be signs everywhere in the world, signs which have already been announced and which will follow sequentially in all the places where Our Lady has really appeared in the course of history. The whole world will know full well that these signs and these warnings come from God, however, many will hold them up to ridicule and will try to find reasons, one crazier than the other, to try to explain these truly extraordinary events." (Xavier Reyez-Aral: Un Message d'Amour, Résiac, Montsûrs, 1997, p. 144). It seems as if, confronted by the expression of heavenly mercy that are the Marian apparitions, the skeptics had already begun to fall into the bad habits which will bring about their downfall. They would then reap through their persistent unbelief the fruits of their obduracy. If the brothers of the rich man of Luke's Gospel would not have been "persuaded " to convert "though one rose from the dead," could their present-day emulators, who are not listening to the Virgin, be able to understand the forceful language of cosmic warnings? 65 Cf. also Mk (13: 19-20). In chapters 6, 42 and 43, supplementary biblical quotations and references can be found concerning this scenario of a judicious severing of the wicked from the just by the angels by means of a selective catastrophe temporally well ahead of the Last Judgment. If I use the word "selective," it is in relation to chose members of the human 99 THE TOPICALITY OF ESCHATOLOGY In the light of the fact that eschatology makes up 20% of the texts of the Bible, Heaven is obviously not only concerned for the fate of the individual person, but also for that of humanity as a whole. Since the Gospel is for all times and all places, its priorities should also be ours. Statistics speak a clear language. What is thematic for God should be topical for us, and Sunday sermons should reflect the urgency of the present situation. God, from all eternity, assigned this theme, even if, in Church practice, it is customarily dismissed today and by the most effective method, namely by omission. It seems that to evoke planetary disasters (which hopefully are not impending), would hurt present-day sensibilities and prove unsuitable for an apostolate based on dialogue. In short, if the prophets of the Old Testament found only unwilling hearers because they were bearers of bad news, it is for an opposite reason that contemporary preachers do not convert sinners. Rose-water does not have the bitter taste of reality. The average Christian feels that he is being shortchanged when the after-life is not shown for what it is. His present life, which is important to him, seems truncated when it does not lead to a beyond, which is just as important. He needs to be confronted by the non-hypothetical alternative of reward or punishment,

race who will survive the "three days of darkness," since the ordeals that will come before will indiscriminately affect good and bad alike. Here are some of the revelations of the Virgin to Debora of Manduria (Southern Italy) on February 15, 1993: "My little daughter, I said one day at Fatima that if the world did not convert a huge catastrophe would befall all of mankind, not at that moment, but in the second half of the XXth century. I had already announced this chastisement at La Salette... For the Church, the time of hard trials and tribulations that I have predicted has come. Cardinals rise up against cardinals, bishops against bishops and Satan walks already in their midst... No one is expecting the Son of God, but you, tell to all that he shall return, as a robber in the night... Fire and smoke shall fall forcefully from heaven, seas will be vaporized, there shall be floods everywhere and a war will come mightier and more destructive than preceding ones, that is, if people remain as they are now. A great number of adults and children will perish, and those who survive will envy those who are dead, for whom this sight will have been spared."

100 RISK of eternal happiness or everlasting despair. He is aware that there is no salvation without risk. As Simone Weil puts it, "risk is an essential need of the soul... Risk is a danger that brings about a carefully considered response." When "through some precise obligation man is constrained to face risk, it constitutes for him the highest possible stimulus." 66 This argument is at the heart of the messages of the Virgin today, and that is why she mentions both hell, and those disasters that are its ominous prelude for inveterate sinners. 67

The earth will be a spectacle of death, want, ruination and war. The times of the times are henceforth coming to an end... This time, if man planned to destroy the whole world, God would make him disappear from the universe, not by falling water, symbol of purification, but by fire, symbol of justice. When the earth becomes brown, that shall be the sign of the coming of my Son and of his angels and then the new earth will begin again, formed anew by all those who presently work for the triumph of my Immaculate Heart and by those who will have survived such calamities." (Christian Parmantier - André Castella: Manduria, Ed. du Parvis, Hauteville/ Switzerland, 1999, pp. 111-112). "Soon ... the heavenly bodies will die out, just as the light of the sun ... " (Id., p. 121: May 13, 1993). At El Escorial, in Spain, the Virgin is quite as explicit: "The day of the Creator shall be terrible... The angels tremble when they think of that day." (December 2, 1989: cf. Gabriel: Premier récit authentique des apparitions de l'Escorial· F.-X. de Guibert, Paris, 1996, p. 332). Under the circumstances, the angels' reaction is understandable, for they know the Scriptures. The prophets did not want to be understood metaphorically: Zeph 1: 15: "That day is a day of wrath... A day of clouds and thick darkness." Am 5: 20: "Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?" 66 Œuvres (Quarto Gallimard, Paris, 1999, pp. 1047-48). 67 Here are some prophecies of the Old Testament which seem to apply to the situation that we are evoking: II: 10-11: "The earth shall quake...; the heavens shall tremble, the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining...

101 THE GREAT TRIBULATION The Warning mentioned above is all the more necessary since the momentary triumph of the Antichrist approaches. How can we situate this brief interregnum of evil in relation to the Warning and the Great Miracle, if not as a consequence, at least, of their relative ineffectiveness and as a sign of the world's obduracy? As for the "Great Tribulation," should it not come as a conclusion to the defeat of the "Man of Sin," this envoy of infernal forces, and consummate the downfall of all those who would have, to their everlasting distress, diligently attended him? 68 Let us not say "These three things, "warning," "sign" and "great tribulation," are not for us, but for tomorrow." As forewarned disasters go, the Fall of Jerusalem is paradigmatic in more ways than one: [The Jews] will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led captive among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Lk 21: 24).

for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?" Jeremiah XXV: 30-31: "The Lord shall roar from on high... He shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth... For the Lord hath a controversy with the nations; he will give them that are wicked to the sword." As mentioned, "the judgment of nations " is on its way. At Fatima, it was announced that some countries would disappear; according to El Escorial, there will be some European countries among them. At the apparitions in Venezuela, the Virgin has warned that this purification of the last times would be worse than the Deluge... "Fire will fall from heaven... Great catastrophes will take place on earth, on the sea and in space." (Cf. Un Message d'Amour, supra p. 140). 68 Does Psalm II apply to our times? Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed... He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then he shall speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore diseasure...... The Lord hath said: Thou art my Son... Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

102 "THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES" "The times of the Gentiles," which are the two thousand years since the beginning of the apostolic preaching, are coming to an end. For the "Gentiles," in other words, the "Pagans," after a millennium of Christian commitment are now actively rejecting the message of the Gospel, somewhat in the same way as the crowds which, after having greeted Christ enthusiastically, later lapsed into comparative indifference. Europe, which was the first continent to be evangelized, has just given itself a secular Constitution from which all mention of a common cultural Christian heritage has been omitted. This collective apostasy seems to have been implicit, it apparently goes unnoticed, but it will not go unheeded by Heaven and earth: And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting with fear and with foreboding at what is coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken (Lk 21: 25).

Conchita of Garabandal in ecstasy

103 Debora of Manduria, in ecstasy

104 THE TIME OF THE ANTICHRIST FIFTEEN TEMPUS ANTICHRISTI

ittle children, it is the last hour", writes St. John in his first epistle. "And as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have arisen; whence we know it is the last hour" (2: 18). "The disciple whom Jesus loved" seems to relativize the Antichrist by multiplying his forerunners while expecting him for sometime around the year one hundred. This should incite us to greet with scepticism the Marian pseudo-prophecies mentioning the "Man of sin" (2 Th 2: 3) as no less alive than you or I, even though he is still hidden, or announcing that "the end of times" is imminent. ̶ 4 ̶ This is the same St. John, however, on the watch for the eternal dawn at the onset of Church history, who in his Apocalypse introduces the Antichrist under the aspect of "a beast" with "two horns like to those of a lamb" while speaking "like a dragon" (13:11). This emblematic figure however does not refer to an abstraction. Astonishingly enough, Father Tamisier writes that it is merely "the seduction of intellectual and religious order, in the service of persecuting powers." 69 As for John, in his first epistle, he labels this second Beast70 the "liar... who denies that Jesus is the Christ" and "the Antichrist who denies the Father and the Son" (2:22). St Paul, in turn, describes the career of this "man of sin". who will oppose... all that is called God, or that is worshipped." For, in his boundless pride, this "son of perdition... will go so far as to sit in the temple of God" and give "himself out as if he were God" (2 Th 2: 4). In other words, this substitution will take place as the result of a

69 In his commentary of Ap 13: 11: Apocalypse, coll. Harmonies bibliques, Ed. Nouvelles images, Lombreuil, Loiret, 1964. 70 Though he does not call it by this name in his epistle.

105 "THE APOSTASY IS AT HAND" metaphysical denial, and then will come about what Matthew announced as "the abomination of desolation" (24: 15): the living idol enthroned in the temple as a reincarnation of the divine. 71 This ritual crowning of the "apostasy" is not just a prophetic speculation, but rather an actual unfolding process.72 "For the mystery

71 As announced at Emmitsburg (USA), according to the fourth secret confided by the Virgin to Gianna Talone-Sullivan who transmitted it to the Pope in a letter, this idolatrous cult will coincide with the suppression of and finally of the public celebration of the Mass. (Video: Unbridled Mercy: The Mercy Foundation, Mundelein, IL). 72 "That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first," (2 Th 2: 3) explains St Paul. "The Adversary " is the creature of apostasy, writes Paul Bouchard. This situation is that of "a denial by the evangelised nations of their faith in Jesus Christ. " It is the necessary and irremediable postulate of a state of affairs over which the angels are already weeping, the implicit plebiscite in favour of him who will incorporate the refusal of God and the answer to the ardent plea which corrupt humanity addresses to, Satan: "Da nos regem" ("Give us a King "). (Cf. Le règne de Dieu sur la terre!: Spirimédia/Parvis, Chertsey (Québec), 1994, p. 58). "The apostasy of the Church is at hand, little children... " Words of the Virgin to Gianna Talone-Sullivan, Emmitsburg, USA, Aug. 24, 1995 (I Am Your Jesus of Mercy: Queenship Pub. Co., Goleta, California, 1996, p. 145). What is it that the Virgin is alluding to, if not to this "auto- destruction " of the Church of which Paul VI spoke? Is she not describing a situation similar to that of the Church in the IVth century when the majority of the bishops embraced Arianism? If we are to judge by the results and not by the intentions, are not quite a few of the measures taken following the Council, though in covert opposition to it, such that they would not have been different had they been deliberately chosen to inflict maximum damage to the Church? If so many nominal Catholics have started to exercise freedom of choice in dogma and morals, does not our liturgy in its own realm, when it models itself on that of the Protestants, have something to do with this situation? Cf. What Cardinal Wotyla was saying in 1976 at the of Philadelphia: "We are now standing at the brink of the final confrontation between the Gospel and the anti-Gospel, the Church and the antichrist, and this is a trial which the whole community of faith must take up." (Quoted by Dudley Plunkett: Heaven Wants To Be Heard: Gracewing, Leominster (Herefordshire), 1997, p. 87). 106 A "beast ... with two horns like a lamb and that spoke like a dragon (Ap 13: 11), according to Dürer (detail)

107 THE ANTICHRIST IS ALIVE of iniquity is already at work" (2 Th 2:7). Furthermore, Scripture confirms what the Virgin is saying in her multiple interventions today. For instance, at Macaraibo in Venezuela, where in answer to the question "is the Antichrist living today or shall he come in the distant future?" the Madonna answered: "Yes, he is alive today." 73 In the same way at El Escorial in Spain, she declared to Amparo Cuevas: "Antichrist is to be found in my Church. He is amongst them [sic]. He has not yet made himself known." 74

The most disquieting aspect of this disaffection of religion against which the Pope wants to mobilise us, is that it involves especially the younger generation. In England, for instance, 98% of the students of Catholic schools stop practicing as soon as the choice is theirs to make. If there is truth in statistics, here it is. On the other hand, it is also the youth that has shown itself most prompt to respond to the call of John Paul II whenever he spoke to them. 73 Xavier Reyes-Ayral: Un message d'amour: Résiac, Montsûrs, 1997, p. 223. 74 Le 12 août 1982. Cf. Gabriel: Premier récit authentique des apparitions de l'Escorial: F.-X. de Guibert, Paris, 1996, p. 296. Le 2 oct. 1981: "Satan has found his way in the Church. " (ibid. p. 309). And on March 5, 1994: "Take heed my children, it is the time of the Antichrist... He is already working havoc in the world." (L'Escorial, messages 1992-1998: Association Vierge des Douleurs, F- 64170 Artix, 1999, p. 137). Let us observe while we are at it, that despite their connection Satan is not the Antichrist, who is merely human. Opinions diverge as to the proximity of the Antichrist. An expert in eschatology, Desmond A. Birch, claims in his book Trial, Tribulation & Triumph (Queenship Pub. Co., Santa Barbara, CA, 1996), that if dates are uncertain, foreseen events follow an order which must be respected. Thus, according to the "witnesses of the future," the prophets who have expressed themselves on this topic, the coming of the Antichrist will be preceded by so many disorders and upheavals that their accomplishment will necessitate an intermediary lapse of time of more than one generation. But the prophecies concerning the endtime come from so many sources (many of them scriptural), and are so complex as to defy an interpretation in precise chronological terms. We are merely reporting here what the Virgin has said in those contemporary apparitions which have, at least unofficially, been authenticated by so many supernatural "signs" that 108 HE WILL OVERCOME TIME AND SPACE Mary's applied psychology is that which announces the baleful event, and helps us to overcome it. The degree of disarray and confusion which prepares, promotes and accompanies such an ascendancy of the spirit of evil over humanity, has already settled in hearts and darkened minds. For the reign of the Antichrist to be established, some almost cosmic changes are necessary so that distance be abolished and communication be instantaneous. The great obstacles encountered in the past by precursors of "the man of sin" had been the difficulty to overcome time and space. Hitler, who came to power in 1933, knowing that he had only one life to devote to his attempt at hegemony, precipitated the course of events which he could not hope to master within the span of one generation. Stalin, more methodical and more patient, missed the appointment with modernity which the United States, by mastering the atom and discovering the computer, made before him. It remains for the Antichrist to achieve with Satan's help the triumph of evil in this world by employing technical resources which are limitless in comparison to those of the past. He will live at a heightened tempo and reap a success they cannot be overlooked. In Desmond A. Birch's eyes, the Antichrist represents the ultimate attempt of the devil to overcome the Church, since it is Evil's last chance at subverting the Good. From our point of view, however (see chapters 42 & 43), once "the thousand years are finished," Satan will launch an additional attack, with the assault of "the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog" upon "the camp of the saints, and the beloved city" (Ap 20: 8-9) on the eve of the Last Judgment. According to Mr. Birch, nevertheless, these "thousand years" are redundant, because they are a throwback to a millenarianism which Theology, at least in its ordinary magisterial exercise, had already gotten rid of in the days of St. Augustine. Whatever the case may be, Satan is already at work in social affairs and in the unfolding of current events, in a way which is all too clear, explicit and manifest for us to be able to deny. He already has direct electronic access into every home, and television exposes most of mankind to his blandishments. Through the Internet, he can influence the outlook on life and behaviour of youth. All the more effectively that a digital net now encloses the world in its web. When information becomes power, and information manipulates men's minds, the "Big Brother" of fiction has become reality.

109 THE REIGN OF THE ANTICHRIST which had escaped, as if by a hair's breadth, the megalomaniacs of yesterday, since Daniel and John, the prophets, grant him a reign of three years and a half. More clever, he will triumph through persuasion where terror had formerly been bounded by geography, and his word will reach to the confines of the earth. He will seduce a multitude accustomed to the virtualities of the media, and his lies will pass for truths. Through the ascendancy of his words he will seem to overcome the very Word of God.75 But, at the acme of his dominion, he will be floored by the Michael. In the interim, the Mass will be abolished or very nearly so, and this will be "the abomination of the desolation" announced by Daniel.

75 "Those who will be on earth at the end of the world shall be in grave danger of damnation, because the Antichrist, to pervert the people, will speak even three times better than my divine Son." This is what the Virgin said to Benoîte Rencurel (1647 - 1718) at the Laus, in the French Alps. It is not clear, however, whether she is alluding to the words Christ actually pronounced, or more plausibly to those that were recorded in the Gospel by untutored witnesses, who had only their memories to rely on and whose style was certainly not on a par with that of the original speaker. (Cf. Louis Pain: La Bergère du Laus, Résiac, Montsûrs, 1988, p. 231). Another reason for which unsuspecting mankind will entrust its destiny to the "Beast" described by John, is that English has become the one language of universal communication. For the words uttered by God in the days of the tower of Babel, when "the whole earth had one language," apply fittingly to our times: "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will be impossible for them." For what is it that "the people" propose to do, which might be unthinkable in the eyes of God, if not what they have already begun to do on an ever increasing scale, which is to slaughter the unborn? For in this folly, freed from all limitations imposed by belief, common sense or morality, society is waging war against itself. Humanity is apparently unaware that the next and logical step towards perdition would be its own total annihilation as a form of universal rebellion against God, the author of being. That the Almighty will intervene before our collective madness has reached such a pitch is the theme and subject-matter of the Apocalypse.

110 666 The Antichrist will enjoy a power which appears limitless in comparison to the control exerted by those for whom St. John uses the plural form, "the antichrists." It will be a power of angelic rather than of human capacity, so that any decision of his will have an immediate repercussion over all the surface of the earth. Lightning will not be more instantaneous. His power will seem absolute, since its exercise will seem to overcome material contingencies... Though present in person in a given place, as any other human, he will act either with the help of modern technique or with the power which Satan will grant him at distance - thus the appearance of omnipotence, at least on a planetary level, that will be his. His prestige shall be such that it will cast a spell over humanity, with the exception of the "small flock" mentioned in the Gospel. I think it can be said that no one will escape from this empire if he is not devoted to the Virgin. She has warned us already of the coming of Satan's instrument. She described at Emmitsburg the preliminary steps of this approaching reign. It has already begun to fashion society in its guise: "Your future is being moulded to surround a monetary system. Be alert to a cashless society developing around the world and the forces of power which will manipulate and ultimately restrict your freedom."76 Will fiduciary operations reduced to the use of a bank card inescapably bind our good will to that of the Beast once the Antichrist is in power? For "it will cause all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the slave, to have a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and it will bring it about that no one may be able to buy or sell, except him who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of its name" (Ap 13: 16-17). Blessed are they who have remained "poor in spirit" in those days! If the number of the Antichrist is to be 666, then, according to the Hebrew alphabet, this is already the case with the www of the Internet: a coincidence, perhaps, but a significant one!

76 Message of May 9, 1996: I Am Your Jesus of Mercy, Vol. VI, p. 6 (Queenship Pub. Co., Goleta, CA, 1999).

111 The Virgin visits Benoîte Rencurel

112 THE RAINBOW SIXTEEN ARCUS CAELESTIS

ariology has a place in theology. We know the part played in its development by such Doctors of the Church as Bernard, Bonaventure or Grignion de Montfort. This is a field, however, in which trends and fashions are out of place. And that is why charismatic authors of recent times, like Maria Valtorta, should not be allowed to usurp a place in their company. ̶ 4 ̶ On the contrary, the contribution of a soul enlightened by a higher science than that found in books should not be underrated. It is certain that Maria Valtorta, in spite of her literary talent, did not conceive on her own the treasures of mariological doctrine present in her works: 77 It is said, in Genesis chapt. 9: "I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant.., the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." "Rainbow: sign of peace. Rainbow: bridge between heaven and earth. Mary, peaceful bridge binding heaven and earth, she is the much- beloved who, through her very presence obtains mercy for the sinners. Maria Valtorta goes so far as to say that at the time of the first great

77 Treasures which are perceptible to unbiased minds, among whom the well-known mariologist, Father Gabriel Roschini, for whom there is no "other marian text, not even the total amount of all those that [he has] read and studied, [that have] been able to give [him] on Mary, masterpiece of God, an idea that was so clear, compelling, complete, luminous and fascinating, both simple and sublime." (La Vierge Marie dans l'oeuvre de Maria Valtorta: Ed. Kolbe, Montreal, 1983, p. 7).

113 THE HOUR OF MARY prevarication of humanity, it was the thought of Mary, though she was not yet born, which incited God to disperse "the clouds of unavoidable punishment" and to grant "a further respite to a humanity awaiting salvation." How much more rightly will it now be Mary in person who will succour a humanity no less sinful than at the time of the Deluge. Indeed, the "hour of Mary" is "this very hour." The Ark of Noah did not save all men, but only those whom God found righteous in his presence. Likewise, in the present hour, in the hour that is beginning at this very moment,... when the clouds are darkening, the ark of God shall not succeed in saving all men because... many of them, will not want to save themselves. They shall not want to be saved by means of the ark of God. 78 After the Deluge, the rainbow was seen only by the righteous who survived. But in the present hour, because of God's overabundance of mercy, the rainbow, which is the sign of peace, Mary, shall be seen by many who are not righteous. Her voice, her fragrance, her prodigies, will be known by the righteous and by sinners. Happy are those among the latter on whom the anger of God will not break out thanks to the "bow of God," and who will turn towards justice and faith in Jesus, in whom is salvation. It would seem that in these quotations of Maria Valtorta, the thesis which we uphold in the present book on the "Marian apparitions of today" is both perfectly summarized and justified. 79

78 Who is this rainbow of salvation appropriate for our times if not the Virgin Mary, to whom our devotion is that very spiritual ark on whom rests our safety? The texts of Luke (17: 26-30) and of Matthew (24: 37- 39) describe the state of unpreparedness in which the improvident and carnal men, whose eyes are earth-bound and whose hearts are sorted with pleasures, find themselves. 79 Maria Valtorta, Leçons sur l'Epître de Saint Paul aux Romains (Centro editoriale Valtortiano, Isola del Liri, 1999, pp. 103-104).

114 SO THAT THEY DO NOT UNDERSTAND SEVENTEEN UT NON I NTELLEGANT

t must needs be that scandals come," says Scripture, "but woe to the man through whom the scandal does come!" (Mt. 18: 7). For there is cause for scandal when visionaries, whose charismatic trances set crowds in motion and mobilize the masses, thereby disconcert the more responsible elements of Christianity. ̶ 4 ̶ It is hardly appropriate to reiterate here why the authenticity of Marian apparitions appears doubtful and uncertain to so many excellent minds. The arguments they rely on to express their disbelief are even more plentiful than the chapters of this book. What remains to be established, however, is the part which Heaven plays in a persuasion so detrimental to an objective appraisal of the events under consideration. The Lord has shown in significant pronouncements that he is not insensitive to the resistance which some of his children oppose to his current teachings. He is distressed that they should object on principle to signs, miracles and other supernatural communications. And He is answering them, as if in kind. To those who refuse to be attentive and listen sympathetically, He does not grant understanding. He allows for their deafness; he does not encroach on their freedom; he "leads the wicked astray" and confirms them, so to speak, in their errors. This can be interpreted on His part as a selective dispensation of enlightenment. The apostles were told: "Do not give to dogs what is holy... " (Mt 7: 6). 80 That is Christ's policy. To the apostles he makes

80 And "do not throw your pearls before swine." This is more than mere advice, for the early Christians took it as an injunction. They did not reveal to the Pagans the real nature of the Sacrifice of the Mass, even if it meant being suspected of abominations. This gave birth to the rumour they ate the flesh of babies. Even converts could not attend more than the beginning of the Mass. Scandal by inference was deemed preferable to removing the veil that shrouded what was most sacred. Had not Christ provoked the defection of the majority of his followers on the day he told them that they should eat His flesh and drink His blood? Could he 115 THE LETTER ~ THE SPIRIT dear that if "it is given [to them] to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, it is not given to those who are outside"... so "that seeing they may not have added emphatically that this was not to be taken literally? Had He thus reassured his hearers in this way, He would have answered their objection: "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" (Jn 6: 52). But it would have been at the expense of the truth concerning the sacramental mystery. The message delivered was of such a high order that it had to be accepted even when it could not be understood. God proceeds as follows: a mystery is proposed; he who turns it down is self-excluded from further instruction; he who is willing to accept it will be rewarded, as was the faith of St. Peter at the Transfiguration... This signifies that Christ was keeping the ulterior revelation of his words, which at first hand seemed either shocking or hidden, for the most faithful of the faithful. It was a difficulty which had to be overcome. A discrimination took place, a sorting out. –"Our Father,... do not lead us into temptation"(a) – How could this Prince of mansuetude thus privilege a few at the expense of the many? Did he wish to exert the rigours of His justice on those who were excluded? Was He not rather acting out of mercy, the attribute which in his relations with mortals reveals the condescension he bears to them even in the midst of their failings? To reward ingratitude confirms mediocrity in its indifference to value. The greatest gifts are those that are most likely to be abused. And what greater waste than that which is made of rejected spiritual endowments! God's foreknowledge measures the severity of the coming judgment upon those who through their own fault will become unredeemable. He does not grant to these "ethical nyctalopes" the lights that would only blind them more effectively. What is implicit in the Bible is often more important than what is explicit. But, if they do not see,... should one not have opened their eyes? It would have been necessary if their blindness had been involuntary, as that of the sightless. But it was wilful and through their own choice. They see Christ casting out demons and they say: 'It is through Beelzebub that he casts out demons' (Mk 3, 22). They judge the works of Jesus Christ otherwise than as what they are there for them to see and to hear about. That is why I shall despoil them of this advantage, and I will keep them from seeing and hearing in the future, since they only use this so as to draw upon themselves a more severe sentence." St. John Chrysostomus (Cf. Magnificat: Paris, July 2002, p. 164). 116 WHEN THE RICH BENEFIT FROM THE POOR see, but not perceive; and hearing they may hear, but not understand" (Mk 4: 11-12; Lk 8: 10; Mt 13: 11-14). Simone Weil in her Notebooks puts it even more succinctly: "When the supernatural enters a being who does not have enough love to receive it, it turns into an evil." Since the wicked will be judged by the graces they have refused, mercy may choose to spare them this additional occasion of sin. The parables of our Lord that hold our attention by their charm, and where suspense is allayed by surprise, seemed enigmatic to those hearers who were prejudiced. Signs can only signify if they are read with the heart just as miracles can only be granted to those who will profit by them. What was meant as a help can turn into an obstacle: "Woe to thee, Corozain! woe to you, Bethsaida!" To these cities, hardened beyond remission, "it [was] not given... to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." Through some mysterious exchange, however, this hard-heartedness that will be detrimental to some will be beneficial to others. The parables of the gold pieces and the talents explain that "to everyone who has shall be given; but from him who does not have, even that which he has shall be taken away" and given to him who has already (Lk 19: 26; Mt 25: 29). Thus, according to a pattern that is only too familiar in this world, the rich will be enriched through the impoverishment of the poor. "Dura lex!" But this principle, which is unjust in civil society, is appropriate in the spiritual sphere. The pauperization of some, which is the expression of a social disorder when it contributes to the enrichment of others, is the inverted image of the great misery of sinners whose own good fortune has led to their being despoiled of those benefits that are not of this world. The genuine treasures, which they have despised, will be transfered through a kind of distributivism to the treasury of merits which the just have

(a) But is not this version of the "Our Father," which has apparently always been in use, ambiguous? Can one pronounce these words without some inner reservation, since we all know that God "does not tempt?" He does not set a trap for human weakness, which when it comes to a fall, gives in solely to the attractions of the world, the leanings of the flesh or the devices of the devil. "Lead us not into temptation," taken at face value, would mean we think that eternal God, in some way or other, can promote evil in our lives. Would it not be closer to the truth to say: "Let us not fall into temptation?" This at least is what the abbé Carmignac suggests as the original meaning in Hebrew or Aramaic, according to the turn of the expression in use in these languages: a permissive form of the verb. 117 LUISA PICCARRETA already accumulated. Heavenly dispensation which brings to them this unexpected increase! "For where thy treasure is, there thy heart also will be" (Mt 6: 21). The "good measure, pressed together, shaken together, running over," pouring into the over-brimming lap of "the poor in spirit" is, so to speak, the involuntary charity from the evil rich man to the poor Lazarus. Such is the teaching of the mystic Luisa Piccarreta in the following text, in which our Lord explains his technique for obtaining from his creation the honour and the glory which are His due: What some creatures fail to give to Me, I take from others, in whom I double my grace. Because I give these latter the grace which others reject, I receive from them twice the love and the glory. To some creatures I give the graces that I would otherwise give to ten, to some the graces destined for one hundred, to some those destined for one thousand, according to their disposition to receive those graces. Sometimes I give a creature the graces destined for a city, or a province, or even entire kingdoms. Then they love Me and give Me the glory I should have received from ten, from one hundred, or from one thousand. That is how the glory due Me from creation is completed.81 This is also how those who commit injustice divert towards more deserving fellow-creatures those precious gifts from Heaven which otherwise would have been wasted. There is a wise economy in supernatural affairs of which men hardly seem aware. God on his side expects from creatures endowed with freedom that they contribute to his glory. If they do not do so, he sends them his

81 Luisa Piccarreta: When the Divine Will reigns in Souls: Book of Heaven (The Luisa Piccarreta Center of the Divine Will, Jacksonville, Florida, 1995, p. 102). See also Mon enfant, Locutions de Jésus à un jeune pécheur (Ed. du Parvis, CH-1648 Hauteville, Switzerland, 1999, p. 46): "When the gift of love, of grace, of unity is spurned by a people or a portion of the elect, I transfer it to other souls and to other people. Instead of the first guests (Mt 22: 1-4), I invite the one-armed, the halt, the blind. The failing of some, I convert through my love into salvation for others." 82 Has one asked oneself about the meaning of Providence's intervention in the affairs of men when it sends a mere shepherdess to assume command of a French army? For what did it matter if the British remained or left at a time when borders fluctuated at the whim and fancy of pre-arranged 118 FROM BABYLON TO THE CITY OF GOD prophets to call them to order, as we have seen in the Old Testament.82 Now that the Word has been made flesh, it is his Mother, as His most prestigious messenger, that He sends to us. She is warning us that He has grown weary of our indifference, that he has chosen to bring it to an end, even by the "deluge of fire" mentioned by Marie des Vallées in the XVIIth century. In order to obtain the conversion of the apocalyptic Babylon, he has resolved to destroy the secular idols of this Harlot-City. His own City, however, is to be erected on the ruins of a civilization that did not deserve to survive. And this new City will enjoy the spiritual benefits turned down by Babylon. There is thus a redistribution of higher values not only between individuals, but also between societies. On this latter scale, a nation may find itself privileged in comparison to its neighbours, and one generation with respect to the previous one whose failings it did not repeat. Just as the Church succeeded to the Synagogue, and as the Gentiles, having shown themselves more receptive, were preferred to the impenitent Jews, the Christianity of tomorrow will accomplish the predictions of the Bible which current Christianity by its widespread apostasy seems to have nullified. Such, at least is what is to be expected, according to the revelations made to Luisa Piccarreta or, even more significantly, to the words of the Virgin announcing the triumph of her Immaculate Heart and of the Eucharist as a result of a world-wide "chastisement." Indeed, our century stands condemned by the word of the Gospel: "With what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you" (Mt 7: 2; Lk 6: 38). For our generation is both "perverse" and "adulterous":

princely marriages? Joan of Arc teaches us through her life and the brief success she enjoyed, that innocence is the best strategy, whatever the circumstances, and that grace is stronger than an army arrayed for battle. It pleases Heaven to shorten a war when a perfectly pure being serves as propitiatory victim for the evil in the world. It is reported that Yvonne- Aimée de Malestroit was a lightning-conductor of God's wrath ready to submerge the world with a prolongation of the Second World War. Esther, Daniel, Judith, each in their own way, are pre-figurations of the providential role that the great figures of would play. Just as the Prophet under the Ancient Law, the Saint under the New Law, serves as a pivot for History. The humble seer fulfills a prophetic function which, according to the case, corresponds to his eminent spiritual dignity (as the two little shepherds of Fatima) or compensates for his apparent inadequacy (as with that excellent Christian, little Maximin of La Salette). 119 THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SIGNS "perverse," because it refuses to share the gift of life and "adulterous" because it has turned away from God. 83 For what is the measure it uses towards the following generation? It is not the full measure, "pressed down, shaken together, running over" of which St. Luke writes (6: 38), but a transmission of life damned at its source, diverted and cut off on its way. It must be said that the excisions practiced by abortion that have almost stood on its head the age-pyramid, are the attempted suicide of a society which, by assailing the future, will end up without a tomorrow. But Providence threatens to outstrip this insensate plan, for the weeds will be sorted out by the angels and separated from the good grain. Some will be shocked by what confirms the convictions of others. The sight of little girls digging out with their bare hands at Heroldsbach what the Virgin called "a gushing spring of graces" disturbed critical minds. The hole, which with time took on the size of a small pool, even though it remained empty of water, was challenging because of its mysterious symbolism. For some bystanders this lesson had no meaning. For others it was a call to penance. At every place of apparitions, Heaven ties a teaching to a material object, even if this should disappoint the expectations of many. At Manduria, Mary asks that one cross oneself with the moist earth from a basin, so that by this gesture of purification one may obtain "important graces." At San Damiano, it is the water that the pilgrims collect in containers that will be beneficial at the time of "the Great Tribulation." What uncommon powers are thus ascribed to mere objects! It reminds one of Christ curing a blind man with the dust of road moistened with his divine spittle! May the eyes of our soul open as well to the realities that do not belong to this world with the help of those elements of the earth thus rendered supernaturally effective.

83 Adultery in this case consists in the coupling "of human reason... with the enemy of God." From this conjunction has resulted this "bastard," "modern man," who is "a monster" according to Maria Valtorta. How could it be otherwise? "The reason of a proud man is made of madness." If "for God Eternal a proud spirit is like an altar that is already occupied," it is because "another being has already been expressing himself there with the harsh voice of concupiscence." This outspoken being is obviously the Dragon whose reign is drawing nigh. (Leçons sur l'Epître de Saint Paul aux Romains: Centro editoriale Valtortiano, Isola del Liri, 1999, pp. 83-84)

120 Luisa Piccarreta

121 Saint Thérèse

122 "THE LITTLE WAY" EIGHTEEN VIA PARVULA

ince St. Thérèse has been declared because of her "little way," we should be wary of whatever smacks of the exceptional or the extraordinary. Furthermore, since Vatican II has issued a universal call to holiness, this necessarily implies for most of us the common road of hidden virtues. We should therefore not be taking miracles for granted or be seeking them. "Didn't our Lord himself say, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign'? The Gospels so often show Christ shunning the miraculous and asking the healed to keep their cures secret. The Eucharist is the miracle, and it was designed to be hidden." (Quotation from the letter of an opponent to our thesis). ̶ 4 ̶ When Christ asked that his miraculous cures be kept secret, it was not because he wished to hide his gifts beneath a "bushel," but to prevent enthusiastic crowds from hailing him as a temporal king. Furthermore, St. Thérèse of Lisieux's example cannot be used in an argument against apparitions, when it was the miraculous "smile of the Madonna'' which she saw at thirteen that was the condition for her spiritual growth. The secret waters of invisible grace are certainly more important than any visible wonders, as we see in the talk between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, but it was nonetheless Christ's charismatic gift of reading into souls which rendered this sinner receptive to his message. When the archbishop of Vienna, Austria, says that an impressive number of his seminarians first heard the call to priesthood while at Medjugorje, should we dismiss this as a mere coincidence? There are some mystics gratified with a marvelous intimacy with Christ, whose humility is best safeguarded when they keep hidden the "secrets of the King". Others, however, are called to "be [a] living and providential witness[es] to supernatural realities."84 The latter expression

84 Albert Paul Schimberg: The Story of Therese Neumann (Roger A. McCaffrey Pub., Ridgefield USA, 1947, p. 22).

123 PLACING WONDERS UNDER A BUSHEL is the one used by St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus addressing herself in a vision to the stigmatist Therese Neumann. There is no shortage at any time in the history of the Church, least of all today, with such luminaries as Marthe Robin, Marie-Yvonne de Malestroit or Padre Pio, of figures endowed by their obvious otherworldly endowments with a public mission for the conversion of sinners. There is undoubtedly a bias - often unconscious on the part of Catholics - against the supernatural when it takes on a marvellous character. What was meant by Heaven as a great favour is viewed as a peril. In the case of Fatima, which we tend to view today as the least problematic of all XXth century Marian visitations, the faithful had to wait thirteen years before the Portuguese hierarchy - apparently under pressure from Rome - gave its approval. But if pilgrims wait until Mary has ceased to appear,85 they will be like those guests who turn up at the feast to which they were invited once the Lady of the house has long since retired into her apartments. "She came unto her own, and her own received her not," one could say. Experience shows that graces of conversion or miraculous cures are more abundant initially than later on. Heaven's message, from this viewpoint, is clear. There is a topicality of the apparition which must be respected and which is God-given. Why second-guess Providence? Why short-change heavenly liberality? But rationalism is rampant today and leads to distrust towards what cannot be explained by the laws of nature. If marvels, wonders and miracles were presented by Christ as proofs of the divine origin of his mission, why should they not be.quite as convincing as arguments in favour of the authenticity of private revelations? Our Saviour insisted often enough on the compelling nature of the signs with which

85 I only know of two cases where the Bishop officially recognized the supernatural character of the apparitions while they were still going on, one of which is Cua in Venezuela. For the recognition of authenticity of Amsterdam, Montichiari, l'Ile-Bouchard, Balestrino and Kibeho, the delays varied from 20 to 57 years. After stating, at least as a kind of precautionary measure, that the astonishing events witnessed were, loosely speaking, not of a supernatural nature, the bishop in office or his successor, overcome at long last by the weight of the evidence, surrendered to the demands of the Virgin, even though, as in the case of Amsterdam, it had been assumed for a long while that it had not been She, but the devil that had been at work. 124 LA SALETTE he authenticated his messages. The same interplay of supernatural evidence and heavenly commission is to be observed today when Mary appears. The first is not to be deemed insignificant nor the second to be disregarded.

125 Maximin Giraud and Mélanie Calvat of La Salette

126 ON PHARISAISM NINETEEN DE MORE PHARISAICO

here is a certain harshness of tone in the messages addressed by Heaven to sinners in present-day manifestations, for instance at Garabandal or at El Escorial, which seems out of proportion, if not with their misdeeds, at least with the usual benignity of Christ in the Gospels where the shafts of His anger are directed towards the pharisees alone. ̶ 4 ̶ The denunciation of pharisaism in the Gospels, however, takes up so much space that we can conclude that this hypocritical deformation is a permanent failing. Christ, knowing "what is in the heart of man," was not restricting his criticism to a deviancy proper to his own times. He was relating it, in its worst kind, to the sin against the Holy Ghost. Christ is never more indignant than when he is accused of casting out demons in the name of Beelzebub. For this allegation is directed against the very nature of God, a metaphysical outrage disregarding the fundamental opposition between good and evil. Hypocrisy disguises pride under the mantle of religion. The pharisees were overloading the weak under the burden of minute prescriptions for which the mighty found escape clauses. They themselves, said Christ, "do not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, and neither do they suffer them that are entering to go in" (Mt 23, 13). Besides the duplicity of the wicked, there is the casuistry of the weak. One who is lukewarm justifies mediocrity in the name of moderation. One should not necessarily cast stones at those whose virtue thus satisfies minimal requirements. "But for the grace of God, there go I." We cannot assume that we are any better, and there is many an opposition to a good work, that comes more from ignorance than from bad will. How often have well-meaning superiors hindered the elect from exercising their "charisma"! Not every blindness is deliberate. In contrast, when Christ blasted the "perverse and adulterous generation" resisting his call to conversion, he was truly dealing with a direct, whether overt or covert, antagonism to the supernatural. Man, however, is not qualified to judge his neighbour, firstly because

127 "YOU ARE NOT OF MY FAMILY" he cannot read his soul, and secondly because he himself is a sinner in need of redemption. But Heaven is not bound by these limitations. In the XVIIth century, Mary warned the visionary shepherdess of Laus against answering her bishop's request to come to see him, since this prelate would have put her in jail, where she would die. We know today that this prelate was a Jansenist. In the same way, there are current apparitions, especially those of an eschatological nature, where the words reported by the visionaries addressed to inveterate opponents are of extreme severity. At El Escorial for instance, where Christ asked for "a sacred plot of land" which the filthy lucre of "practicing Catholics" refused to grant him, he reminds these nominal Christians that He is "the Master of [their] lives and of [their] goods." But his sharpest barbs are directed towards the politicians who are opposed to Him on principle. He warns them bluntly that since they have "abjured their faith," on Judgment Day they will hear the implacable words: "Away with you, you are not of my family." 86 In other cases, the condemnation is indirect, and people are mentioned by class, less because of their insensitivity to Heaven's messages, than for the spiritual deficiency thus revealed. Hence, the disquieting sentence pronounced at Garabandal: "Many priests, bishops and cardinals are following the path of perdition and drawing many souls along with them." On the portals of Gothic or Romanesque Cathedrals, the Last Judgment, sculptured in stone, already thematised this idea, where we see Popes, bishops and many other dignitaries among the unsuspecting group which devils are ushering into the gaping mouth of Hell. What makes this scenario all the more currently appropriate is the part played by modernistic exegetes and theologians in the loss of faith and decline in morality of laymen. Let us listen to the Virgin's comments as reported by Mélanie Calvat of La Salette: The priests, ministers of my Son, the priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the holy mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of

86 L'Escorial: Messages 1992 ˗ 1998: Association Vierge des Douleurs du Pré-Neuf de l'Escorial, F-64170 Artix, 1999, pp. 61-62. 128 "DO NOT MUTILATE THE GOSPEL'' impurity... Woe to the priests and to those dedicated to God who by their unfaithfulness and their wicked lives are crucifying my Son again! The sins of those dedicated to God cry out towards Heaven and call for vengeance, and now vengeance is at their door, for there is no one left to beg mercy and forgiveness for the people. There are no more generous souls, there is no one left worthy of offering a stainless sacrifice to the Eternal God for the sake of the world. 87 This indictment seems more apposite today than when it was expressed, at least if we are to believe what Luz Amparo of El Escorial tells us on the part of our Lord: Woe to you pastors who mutilate the Gospel, and who do not teach men the truths that are to be found there... Many of you are civil servants, instead of being pastors of the sheep of Christ: you have an office in the world... 88

87 Quoted by Ted and Maureen Flynn: The Thunder of Justice (MaxKol Communications, Inc., Sterling VA 20166, USA, 1993, p. 112).The perennial misunderstanding between charismatic gifts and institution was made manifest once more at La Salette, as in so many other places. The main concern of the bishop, once Rome had responded favourably, was to prevent Mélanie and Maximin from having any more say in the matter. His excellency, bishop Ginouilhac, chose as his motto the sentence of a false mystic whom he had consulted: "The visionaries' mission is over, that of the Church begins." This formula, as if it had left its mark in the subconscious of many autocratic prelates, best summarizes their attitude in the face of unwanted intrusions of the marvellous in their diocese. At La Salette, the result was that one tried to obfuscate both the prophetic and eschatological content of the messages of Heaven, and that one did not implement, for the creation of a new congregation, that very Constitution of the "apostles of the last times" which the Virgin herself had dictated. 88 What does the expression "civil servant" (or "functionary" in the original) in its depreciatory sense mean, if not that this epithet applies to whoever sacrifices the very purpose of his profession to the benefits that he personally can obtain from it. When the "function" is exercised at the expense of its "finality," serving one's neighbour ceases to be a goal, and the Churchman, though designated by Christ, no longer has the salvation of souls in mind, but only his own career, ambition thus serving as a deterrent to religious zeal. Padre Pio, with an endearing bluntness, 129 "PREACH HELL" This censure addresses two failings: amputation, by leaving out of the Gospel an essential part of its message, and demoralisation, by discouraging the good will of many of the faithful. Do not preach the Gospel according to your own personal choice, my children, preach the Gospel such as it is... Preach the God of Love and Mercy, but do not omit the God of Justice, the Judge of the Living and the Dead! How you conceal from men the word of hell, my children!... My children, man can save himself out of love and out of fear (Lk 1: 50; 2 Co 7: 1; Ap. 14: 7; 15: 4). 89 took a dig at a meddling Church official bent on imposing arbitrary and restrictive rules on his own apostolate: "He is suffering from 'cardinalitis'" (the ambition to become a cardinal). 89 Our emphasis. The fright that overcomes the sinner before the just judgments of God is the way of salvation of the weak. And who can claim that he is not weak at least in some respects? As Mark Twain said with disarming irony: "Of all the deterrents of temptation, the surest is cowardice." (Quoted by Joseph Sobran: Finding Evil, The Wanderer, May 24, 2001, p. 6). Such "is the misery of man," Pascal would have said, that "self-love" is usually his only guiding principle. At least there can be objectivity in enlightened self-interest... Risk can be a stimulus for good. The opposition of good and evil brings with it the confrontation of reward and retribution. There is an immanent element in morality which determines the outcome of behaviour. The issue is both uncertain and decisive, since it is shaped by free choice. The eternity of bliss on one side; and on the other, a condition so unbearable that the damned souls, according to Agrippa d'Aubigné, suffer from "the unquenchable thirst of an impossible death." It is said that "the priest is another Christ." He must, therefore, following Christ's example, preach both when it is opportune and inopportune. He must preach against the Zeitgeist, and not pretend to share prevailing patterns of opinion under the guise of putting them to good use as spring-boards for the Gospel. For what does the Scripture say? It speaks about hell, and that the only misfortune is to act in such a way that one will go there. "What comes " should not be hushed up. That is at least what Christ did, who mentioned hell at least half as often as he did Heaven. That is why it is essential in Sunday homilies to speak of both, and not to neglect one at the expense of the other. Hell as the only prospect means despair. Heaven as the only possibility means illusion.

130 DON BOSCO AND HELL What treachery, my children! Those who are not against Me, are with Me. How can you object to them? Your preference goes for those pharisees who make a lot of noise, but do little... 90 Ah,

Don Bosco's favorite educational ploy was to narrate to his boys his own dreams. Since he used to dream a lot and his nightly visions had a charismatic character, he put them to plentiful use. They were both entertaining and edifying, but however unexpected the plot or fantastic the setting, the suspense they used to generate concerned one single alternative, that of Heaven or of hell. In spite of the uniformity of this underlying pattern, his dreams were highly prized by his youthful audience. 90 "Do not conceal disagreeable truths," is what Christ seems to be telling preachers, "take the risk of displeasing." Or, as he says in his own words: "You are unconcerned that the good might be contaminated by those who are bad as long as your Church is full even if the faithful do not love God their Creator. Your mistake is that you preach a Christ which is man and not a Christ which is God." (Cf. supra: L'Escorial... pp. 191-198). By His crucifixion God showed the momentousness of what was at stake. Eternity alone can measure the cleft between good and bad, and show how unmitigated is the opposition between grace and sin. In 1942 Simone Weil was already criticizing the "secularism" which would later contaminate part of the clergy: "The errors of our time are those of a Christianity deprived of its supernatural component." (Cahiers III Paris, Plon, p. 136). We have all heard of the case of priests who, having refused to kow-tow to the liberal standards of today, have earned the disapproval of their more outspoken parishioners, and who, because they preached the Gospel were removed from the parish to which they had been assigned, while others, more attuned to the spirit of the times, enjoyed the favourable response of the media and, with a "full-house" on Sunday, seemed to give the lie to the demands of Christ mentioned above. A young priest of our acquaintance, known for his liturgical zeal and piety, newly appointed as pastor, found on his arrival parishioners lying on the steps leading to the presbytery in an attempt to prevent him from assuming his new office, as if he were some nefarious anti-Vatican II zealot. The outcome of this conflict was resolved in favour of the unruly faithful. 131 THE REMOVER WILL BE REMOVED these priests who do not choose the good fruits from the good trees! 91 The Virgin says she comes merely "to remind men of the Gospel which is already written," and asks them to preach it as it is and to practice it such as it stands without mutilating it or pruning it... 92 There was first of all the sin of omission, when hell was no longer mentioned, and furthermore a lack of discernment, when good fruits were disregarded as a concession to the false wisdom of the world. All this happened in the name of an anti-spiritual pragmatism to which every bureaucracy pays obeisance, even, alas, now and then, time and again, in the Church itself. This is what explains the "almost desperate fervour," according to

91 Cf. supra: L'Escorial... : pp. 194-198. Using two quotations of the Gospels, Christ is pointing out what is the touchstone of the discernment of spirits in charismatic events: 1) Are we dealing with men of good will? 2) What are the fruits? If we keep in mind both of these subjective and objective aspects of an apparition, we can measure both its authenticity and its spiritual significance. Let us take note that Christ is showing us how to proceed. He is telling us to be broad-minded. He is reducing to its essential components what is only too often rendered complicated at will. Places sanctified by Marian apparitions are also places where prayers are said, conversions take place, cripples are cured, and peace is no longer a mere word but an inner reality. To view with suspicion the events from which such gifts of Heaven originate is singular and would seem inexcusable if it were not so widespread. 92 Ibid. L'Escorial... : p. 194. The maledictions of the Apocalypse alluded to here (22: 18-19) apply also to the "expurgators" of the Gospel: "I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone shall add to them, God will add upon him the plagues that are written about in this book. And if anyone shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share from the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book." Whoever expunges from the Holy Writ the elements which he finds disturbing - a current modernistic practice, both in, alas, and out of the Church - runs the risk of deserving the penalty described above. The remover will be removed. 132 AN ANTI-SPIRITUAL PRAGMATISM the expression of François Mauriac, with which Christ in the Gospels addressed to the pharisees the thunders of a vituperation worthy of the prophets of old. "It was because He knew, He who knew all, that the pharisee was, as He Himself, an immortal entity." 93 What is customary is reassuring. In the name of convention, many abuses have been perpetrated in the course of time! How often has time- honoured practice prevented improvement, when even in the natural sciences, tradition has often become the supreme authority. In medicine, blood-letting was thought of as a cure, when it was often fatal! In the arts, stereotypes ruled out novelty. And religion itself was not spared since the principle of authority often prevailed against authentic charismas. In all these areas of human endeavour, professional habit, as a sclerosis resistant to change and to inspiration, refuses the promises of today in the name of the practices of yesterday. Even the bloodbaths of religious wars were grounded in indoctrination. Such was also the nefarious conformism of the priests of the Old Law whose function it was to sacrifice bulls, sheep and turtle doves. When the occasion arose, they felt it was meet and appropriate to send the Lamb without fault to his death on the very day of the ritual death of the pascal lamb. Were they to be excused, as Christ suggested, because "they did not know what they were doing"? This case, the most extreme in all of history, shows that the repeated fulfilling of a task readily brings with it the moral obfuscation of its very purpose. If clerics become civil servants, then false fervour of fanaticism follows the pull of conformity, and the letter soon overcomes the spirit.

93 Mémoires intérieurs, Paris, Flammarion, 1959, p. 119.

133 Juan-Antonio Gil

Simone Weil

134 AFTER THIS, THEREFORE, BECAUSE OF THIS TWENTY POST HOC, ERGO PROPTER HOC

ritics of Vatican II use the expression "the post-conciliar-Church" to describe the state of affairs resulting from the permissiveness and novelties introduced since 1965 into the ecclesial establishment. This derogatory opinion, which is widespread in certain traditionalist circles, seems to be confirmed by the very pessimistic appraisals of the state of the Church expressed by the Virgin in many of her current apparitions. In Emmitsburg, for instance, on August 24, 1995, the Lady of the apparitions told Gianna Talone-Sullivan that "The apostasy of the Church is at hand... " 94 This is not astonishing, however, if one adds that at Maracaibo in Venezuela she mentioned to a student, Juan-Antonio Gil, that the Antichrist "is alive today," while at El Escorial in Spain she declared to Amparo Cuevas on October 2, 1981: "Satan has found his way into the Church." 95 What is one to make of such statements? Are they conducive to a trust in our institutional, but nonetheless, divinely instituted Church? Do they not by inference throw into disrepute the very worthy attempt at renewal of Vatican II? They seem to be of the same stuff as Kenneth C. Jones' article in the "Latin Mass" issue of Fall 2003 in which he debunks "the myth that the Council did not cause the crisis in the Church - the post hoc propter hoc objection." If the Church is sick, suggests this critic, it must be because the physicians who ministered to it during the sessions ofVatican II were misguided. ̶ 4 ̶ At face value, Kenneth C. Jones' argument seems pretty convincing. Is not the Council (1962-65) responsible for the decline in faith and morals which followed on its heels? Is it not "the spirit

94 I Am Your Jesus of Mercy: Queenship Pub. Co., Goleta, California, 1996, p. 145. 95 Xavier Reyes-Ayral: Un message d'amour: Résiac, Montsûrs, p. 223. Then: L'Escorial, messages 1992-1998: Assoc. Vierge des Douleurs, F-64170 Artix, 1999, p. 137. 135 HUMANÆ VITÆ of Vatican II," which has been constantly invoked to justify the most questionable "improvements" in liturgy, catechetics, ethics or pastoral care? But the Virgin would disagree, for at Garabandal she spoke glowingly of the Council, whose forthcoming session she announced. Furthermore, Dermott J. Mullan in his well-documented article entitled The Catholic Hiroshima, published in the New Oxford Review of September 2001 (pp. 22-28), claims that if chronology is invoked, then it should be precise. The noticeable religious decline, such as can be registered in figures concerning church attendance and religious practice, does not coincide with the years 1965 or 1966, but with the year 1968. What is it that was so special about 1968 that could make it a decisive turning- point in History? That is the year when Paul VI issued his encyclical Humanae vitae, which rebuked the expectations of the clerical avant- garde. Until then all the available data had testified to a sustained dynamics in the maintenance and extension of the Kingdom of God, be it in terms of vocations, conversions (150,000 a year in the States) or Sunday worship. If the figures of 1967 are compared to those of 1970, however, a reversal of trend is noticeable, and the number of priests, brothers and nuns shows in the interim a decline of respectively 2, 8 and 10 %. As for marriage annulments, their increase from 1968 to 1974 is about 9000 %. From a more distant perspective, we know that there were 40,000 marriage annulments per year in the nineties, as compared to 333 annulments in 1968. 1968 was the annus horribilis. It owed this peculiar status to the clerics who publicly opposed Paul VI's controversial encyclical. In the States, there were no less than half of the theologians in disagreement; while in Germany, it was that very body which purports to speak in the name of the bishops, the episcopal conference itself, which in the Königsteiner Erklärung declared that Humanae vitae was not legally binding for the faithful. Such seemingly authoritative pronouncements confused the issue to such a point that the dogmatic supremacy of the became questionable in the eyes of the faithful. It seemed as if natural law had ceased to be the inflexible rule of morality. The average churchgoer, as a result of this well-publicized clerical obstruction, concluded that his individual conscience in matters of sexual morality was to itself both judge and jury. There had been "pill-users" a-plenty before, even among Catholics, but many had been uneasy, disturbed and unhappy about this practice which flew in the face of tradition.

136 1968 Now, however, when so many priests agreed with liberal theologians, an audible sigh of relief could be heard in the ranks of married couples. lt was as if permissiveness had been in some way justified beyond dispute, as if there was a "right to privacy" in intimate matters which exempted sexual partners from having to account before God for their refusal to have babies. Thus, from the condition of sinners falling into sin knowingly, the "pill-users" assumed the status of sinners unaware of their sinfulness. What is wrong is beyond repair when it is taken for its opposite. John Paul II once said speaking in general terms, applicable, however, to this situation, that "the sin of this century [was] the loss of the knowledge of sin." A warped conscience would henceforth be perceived as preferable to a bad conscience. 1968 is the time-hub on which this change took place. Most Catholics - in our Western countries - lapsed into heresy without even noticing it. They had adopted the Protestant principle of free enquiry, which is a fallacy all the more pernicious in that it disguises its true nature. The clerics who gave the initial impetus to this point of view had obviously been nurturing it for quite a while, and their outspoken nay-saying to the Pope rested on previous preconceptions. In many American "Catholic" universities, modernism had become acceptable. Yet "there is a tide in the affairs of men"; and these modernists did not become outspoken until they had a convenient reason for expressing their bias and standing up for it. For the majority of the priests, religious and nuns, their disaffection expressed by departure-figures parallels precisely the increase of marriage annulments among the laity. The paradox is that dissent crystallized in both milieux around the use of a pill concerning lay persons alone, a most disquieting fixation on a practice directed against the transmission of life. When asked for the reason for their opposition to the Holy Father, these promoters of laxity answered that they were guided by a spirit of compassion for the family father, this "adventurer of the XXth century'' (Charles Péguy), and especially for his wife burdened with repeated pregnancies. The quality of the motive disguised a deflection of the finality of sexuality. There is a long tradition, beginning with St. Augustine and continuing later with such mystics as Katherina Emmerich and Maria Valtorta, that original sin consisted in a mysterious or animal-like misuse of and Eve's own heightened estate of marriage. As for our contemporaries, their love-making is unmatched for its deviancy among those very creatures

137 SIN LOSES ITS STING whom science now considers our fellow-primates. This idolatry of cujus deus venter est ("he whose God is his belly") already expressed at the beginning of time, has found novel variations. This is a confirmation, as if it were necessary, of the age-old saying that lechery leads more souls into hell than any other aberration. As we all know, 1968 is also the year in which, world-wide, university students went on a rampage. In France, it all started when, true to colour, male students demanded free access to girls' dorms. In Germany, the initial demands were more politically inspired. In the States, increased involvement in academic decisions was requested. Everywhere, however, traditional values were being questioned. Youths were rejecting in society the principle of authority which elders were downgrading in religious matters. Religious disaffection doubtless has many grounds. But it was first triggered by a sexual demand. If apostasy primarily disguised itself into an accommodation with the Zeitgeist, Catholics soon drifted into a secular spirit to which the clergy only too often paid lip service. Traditional value-based morality had been worsted by "consequential" ethics. As Bossuet observed, there is no greater unhappiness "than to be in perfect agreement with one's sins." According to François Mauriac: "Today, he who is lost does not know that he is lost." 96 The reprobate soul has crossed "the great divide" without being aware of it. On the part of the dissident, there is a double jeopardy. The first fault is a distortion of morality, a selective distortion which may appear of little consequence, but nonetheless is decisive, because it breaks a hallowed tradition which all Christian Churches had respected until 1930. In that year, the Anglican Church at the Lambeth Conference, recognizing a practice that was already widespread, authorized contraception for "a legitimate reason." The other Protestant denominations soon followed suit. While in 1900, not one of them, nor the Orthodox or the Jews, would have approved of what the Bible forbade, fifty years later, the situation had been reversed. Rome provoked dismayed disbelief. The Roman Catholic in those days, when he disobeyed, knew that he

96 Ce que je crois (Grasser, Paris, 1962), p. 25). Dostoyevsky, who dealt with more hardened cases than that of mere sexual laxity, put it more bluntly: "There is no criminal more unfortunate than he who no longer even considers himself a criminal. He is an animal, a beast." (Diary of a Writer, "The Milieu", Braziller, N.Y., 1954, p. 16)

138 WHAT IS "POST-CONCILIAR''? disobeyed. When, however, following the internal dissidence of 1968, he ceased believing that he was in the wrong, he added to his ethical transgression a dogmatic one. The branches, in most cases - at least in the Western countries - no longer abided in the vine (John 15: 4), and the Catholic Church suffered the same qualitative and quantitative decline as the Protestant Churches. In Germany today, where apostasy is official because it entails fiscal advantages, almost a hundred and fifty thousand Lutherans publicly renounce their baptismal vows each year, with the consequence that in less than two centuries, statistically speaking, they will have all died out. Among Catholics, permissiveness having entered into the picture at a later date, the disaffection is less, and since "only" 100,000 faithful leave the fold each year, the same result will be reached at a slower pace. "When the Son of Man returns, will he find any Faith?" According to Charles Péguy, being able to give a name to one's sin is a privilege which pagans do not enjoy. Have our contemporary Christians sunken to a level where they aspire to the moral turpitude of the decadent Romans and to the "derangement of all the senses" (Rimbaud) which is related to madness? In truth it is nothing else, but it will not be recognized as such so long as the present policy of "moral liberation" endures. Let us give the devil his due and not rewrite history in terms of certain statistical coincidences. What was wrong with Vatican II was not that it gave rise to permissiveness "in liturgy, catechetics, ethics or pastoral care." Far from it. What was wrong was that its own decisions were not implemented. Already in 1970, Cardinal Bengsch declared: "The credibility of the Church is seriously imperiled, when four years after the conclusion of the council, those bishops who attended it, but who are now under the pressure of public opinion, are no longer in

97 Information aus Kirche und Welt, Augsburg, Advent 2002, p. 5, quoting Der Fels (II, 1970). What is "Post-conciliar" is therefore bad insofar as it is "anti-conciliar," which is unhappily often the case, and not insofar that it is "conciliar." What adds to the confusion is that the people who deserve to be called "anti-conciliar" are more precisely those who claim to be conciliar, id est to be faithful to the "spirit of the council." On the other hand, those "opponents" who say that they are "anti-conciliar" are often ˗ but not always ˗ closer to the spirit of the council than those who are labelled "conciliar." Confusion is thus thrice compounded by terms 139 PLATO'S "BIG BEAST". . . agreement with their own conciliar decisions." 97 How could "public opinion," however, enjoy the supernatural help of the Holy Spirit? For public opinion is a mere consensus; it is not a thought, a spiritual process worthy of this name. According to the philosopher and mystic, Simone Weil, thought is strictly an individual process. There is no such thing as a collective thought.98 Thus public opinion is mistaken, even if perchance it happens to be in the right, because "opinion... is the devil," of whom one knows that "he lied from the beginning." 99 His proper name is Zeitgeist, that very wordly spirit of the times which every so often has been dubbed mistakenly as the "spirit of the Council." Is not Plato's "Big Beast," society reduced to its metaphoric archetype, always in conflict with truth, since its convictions are dictated by self-interest, self-delusion or self-worship, so that what

which have different meanings according to the differing points of view of those who use them. Whether one criticizes the Council for developments for which it is not answerable, or uses it as a convenient pretext for the introduction of novelties it had not mentioned, one forgets that it is the Council and the Council alone which can claim to have benefited from the special inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Some people will say that since it was primarily a pastoral and not a dogmatic Council, it did not benefit for its pastoral decisions from the infallibility which is only assured for the deposit of faith, in which last area it merely repeated what was already known. But whatever the nature of the inspiration received from Heaven, the Council owed it to its special status as the body of bishops united with the Pope. 98 What is interesting in this paradox, is that for Simone Weil adequatio mentis ad rem ("adequation of the mind to its object") is not enough. It must be accompanied by adequatio mentis ad deum ("adequation of the mind to God"), an analogical process through which it is through the supernatural light of God that reality can be apprehended such as it is in truth. 99 La connaissance surnaturelle (Gallimard, Paris, p. 272). Simone Weil's severe indictment of public opinion implies that when a collectivity agrees for reasons pertaining to group behaviour, its sometimes conformity with truth is the result of chance more than it is that of the recognition of the primacy of truth.

140 . . . IS THE DEVIL is "politically correct" soon overshadows reality? 100 The advantage of the Catholic Church is that its authoritative statements emanate not from the many - except in the case of a council speaking as one voice -, but from the one, the only chosen one since Peter, speaking in Christ's name. Furthermore, it is reassuring to notice that when the Virgin in her contemporary apparitions speaks of the present-day decline in faith and morals, she never connects this sad state of affairs to Vatican II. Quite the opposite! At Garabandal for instance (1961-1963) she announced that "the Great Miracle [which she predicted] and the council [which she mentioned before-hand] [would] serve to convert the world."

100 La source grecque (Gallimard, Paris, p. 91).

141 ROC OF SCOGLIO

The Madonna dello Scoglio, famous for cures and conversions

Fratel Cosimo Fragomeni, the visionary

142 CONCERNING MIRACULOUS CURES TWENTY ONE DE SANATIONIBUS

t is said that where Mary appears, miracles take place. But cures which are so sudden they baffle medical science cannot, without further consideration, be understood as proofs of the supernatural origin of the vision! They mean too much and too little. "Too much" because often those people who believe in the authenticity of contemporary apparitions would like to find in these healings alone ground enough to justify their belief. "Too little" because theological considerations are more important in the discerning process, and miraculous cures alone cannot be considered decisive. ̶ 4 ̶ Without entering into the previous debate, the reality of the phenomenon is already established. At Medjugorje, for instance, and at Garabandal, San Damiano, Manduria and Bétania, to mention just a few, cures and conversions are reported, the cures often being the decisive argument for the conversion, either of those who benefited from the cures, or of the bystanders. Priests who hear the converts in confession are privileged witnesses, but they cannot speak of their sacramental experience, except in general terms. The cures can be publicized, and the one who is healed is not shy to speak about it. For authentications, these wonders, however, should be examined by a medical commission similar to that of Lourdes. It is by their irrefutable character and by their number, when they have been recorded, that they can serve as argument in favour of the authenticity of the apparitions. Alas, it is not often that the material and moral conditions are met for such a meticulous and exhaustive examination. Above all, the bishop's assent is necessary. However, for the average pilgrim, it is reassuring to know that he finds himself in a place where Heaven intervenes visibly and with merciful liberality. God is at work.101

101 In Medjugorje, for instance, Father Laurentin reports on the

143 "THE DEAD RISE" (LK 7: 22) Today, as a general rule, when the Virgin appears, the sick are healed and the dead come back to life, if we may call a conversion a spiritual resurrection. As far as common sense is concerned, if a fact is a fact, then a genuine miracle is a statement from Heaven. Let us not forget, however, that the Church alone can pronounce authoritatively on this question and assume the responsibility for its interpretation. The most astounding miracle was the one which took place at Vadiakkadu in India, where a premature baby, dead at birth, came back to life, after having remained buried for six months. This wonder had been foretold by the visionary Mary-amma. On June 17, 1991, at 2:30 am, in the presence of sixty people, a hole is dug with a pickaxe in the hardened ground: the little coffin appears, the cover is removed, the baby is alive! The proceedings,were recorded on two videos. According to the image shown, the baby boy is more fully-grown than he could have been at birth. Today, he attends school where he is a lively and turbulent student.102

instantaneous restoration of health in two severe cases of disseminated sclerosis in 1991: The beneficiaries were two Americans, Myriam Bergeron and Virginia Rose. (See Father René Laurentin's first book on Medjugorje). In Sister Emmanuel Maillard's book L'Enfant caché de Medjugorge, we find the story of Veronica Knox of South Africa, who lost her eyesight in 1977, but who saw Christ in a vision in 1999. He showed her a village where there was a church with two spired towers: "Medjugorje! There I will give you the light..." She had never heard of the place before. But she went there with her husband. On the third day, she met the visionary Vicka who, in spite of the crowd, went straight towards her and touched her eyes. Veronica's eyesight was restored. (Ed. Des Béatitudes, 41600 Nouan-le-Fuselier, chapter 2). As a place especially noteworthy for its cures, mention should be made of the Roc of Scoglio (near Placanica and Caulania in western Calabria), where the visionary, Fratel Cosimo, received messages from the Virgin between 1968 and 1992 and discovered a miraculous source in October 2002. 102 Father René Laurentin investigated this event. (See Chrétiens magazine, March 15, 2003, pp. 14- 17).

144 MIRACLE AT VADIAKKADU

The coffin appears

The cover of the coffin is removed

145 ALIVE!

The child is alive!

A nurse washes the child

146

His family names him Moses

Young Moses on the knee of the mystic Vassula Ryden beside Mary-amma and Fr. Prassad

147 "MARIA MEDIATRIX"

Mediatrix of divine grace

148 ON THE USEFULNESS OF APPARITIONS TWENTY TWO DE UTILITATE VISIONUM

o apparitions answer a need? Do they fulfill a want? Are they useful? To be sure, when they do take place, we should be wary and watchful and not follow our first impressions for fear of being deceived or deluded... Most people taking a stand against apparitions do not express themselves so forcefully. But they are convinced, astonishingly enough, that such out-of-the-ordinary events serve no useful purpose. When apparitions are authentic, they add nothing to what is already known through the safer channels of Tradition. On the other hand, if they are fictitious or fraudulent, they can cause untold damage to the faithful and to the Church. That is why our institutional Mother, in her role as teacher and administrator of the Sacraments, does not encourage such problematic help. She has already supplied the framework for the expression of collective and individual piety. With her, we are on safe grounds. ̶ 4 ̶ To this objection, let us answer with an anecdote. It was in 1946, when the world was still reeling from the trauma of the war. A dialogue took place between French priests and American Jesuits. The first were insisting on the necessity and the urgency of a reevangelisation adapted to present circumstances. France, whether in the provinces, or in industrial suburbia, was such a spiritual wasteland it had to be systematically "missionized.'' The American Jesuits could be more relaxed. At home, the situation was different. Furthermore, there was no shortage of converts. A significant number of Jewish GI's, for instance, were impressed by European Catholicism's intellectual dynamism and esthetic character and were entering the Church. To justify their optimism the Jesuits used statistics. The birthrate of American Catholics was noticeably higher than that of Protestants. Figures can be reassuring, but trends are not necessarily reliable. As the future has shown, the virus of birth-control soon brought to an end the 149 THE BIRTH-RATE AND THE SUPERNATURAL vision of a Catholic majority in the USA. Even the French Canadians' rate of expansion, which had been the highest in the world, was affected to the point where it fell below zero. In the light of these developments, the promises of the past appear a mere mirage. Minus the American optimism, the "business as usual" attitude of many priests and laymen of today is dismaying. It is less the practices of the past they seem to be conforming to, however, than to some spiritual equivalent of May '68. It is the conformity to modernity. Novelty is their best resource, they believe, and ecumenism is resorted to as a substitute for evangelisation. Nature is not the ally it used to be, however, and it proves elusive when it is put to the test. A certain state of affairs, such as the favourable birth-rate mentioned above, is doubtless an asset, but one which reveals itself to have been affected by the spirit of the times. The supernatural inspiration which had nurtured fertility in marriage having run dry, the dynamics of procreation, through a shortage of children, has affected in turn priestly vocations. Supernature is like nature in that when sowing declines, so does the harvest. It takes our active cooperation to bring about the fruition of graces received. These are offered to us today, however, with accrued abundance through the ministry of the Virgin: "Maria Mediatrix"!

150 BAD MONEY DRIVES OUT THE GOOD TWENTY THREE PECUNIA FALSA EXPELLIT BONAM

ow can one trust rumours declaring "the Virgin has appeared here or there" when one knows what disciplinary and doctrinal aberrations Palma de Troya in Spain has led, to mention only this regrettable event. Abstention is safer than commitment. Who wants to be duped by the Prince of Lies? ̶ 4 ̶ Doubtless, human weakness is such that the authenticity of an initial experience does not ward off possible future deviations either on the part of the visionary or on that of his followers. That is why any charism accompanied by manifest deviations should be distrusted. Since the layman may be at loss regarding contemporary apparitions, not knowing how to separate the wheat from the chaff, let it be said that, as a rule-of-thumb, he should look both for the objective element, that is "the good fruits" (conversions, cures, edification) and for the subjective element, that is "the good faith" of the seers. He is no "expert" and is not called upon to utter definitive judgments, but to exercise caution in the pursuit of such spiritual benefit as pilgrims can currently obtain at San Damiano, El.Escorial, Medjugorje, Schio, Manduria, etc... What I am saying is that if, for their own personal edification, laymen may take advantage of the greater freedom granted to them since Vatican II in matters of individual spirituality, none of them, however, should assume that this greater latitude brings with it an excuse for disregarding the apostleship of their Bishops. St. Paul makes the following most interesting comment: "And God indeed hath set some in the church: first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly doctors... " (1 Cor 12: 27 -28). What is noteworthy here is not only the first place assigned to the bishops, but that the second place is ascribed to the prophets, preferentially over the doctors, who only come in third. This seems to signify that the seers fulfill, in their prophetic function, a charismatic role which surpasses that of the doctors, those whose office, as watchdogs of doctrine, should not lead them to downplay the benefits derived from private revelations.

151 CRITERIA OF AUTHENTICITY For its very vitality, the Church needs the mystics. Never has this need been greater than today when the Church in our Western countries is in deeper disarray than it has been since the heresy of Arius or at the time of the Reformation. Its members, who have only too often accommodated their conduct to that of pagans, their beliefs to those of protestants, or their religiosity to that of esoteric trend-setters, are literally starving for want of spirituality. However, to separate the wheat from the chaff, the Church in its wisdom has listed objective criteria. Let us mention the positive ones first: ̶ the personal qualities of the visionary, such as her honesty, her psychological equilibrium, her integrity; ̶ the coherence of the pertinent facts and the conformity of the messages or revelations to dogmatic theology and to traditional morality; ̶ the spiritual fruits which must be continually increasing: a healthy spirit of devotion and of prayer, conversions or the edification of bystanders. As for the negative criteria, these are: ̶ doctrinal errors or fallacies in the messages; ̶ the systematic criticism of the Church; ̶ personal profit as a motive, financial gain; ̶ present immoral behaviour of the seers; ̶ psychic disorders or neurotic tendencies. 103

103 According to "les Cahiers d'Edifa'': Miracles, apparitions: Que croire ? Qui croire ? (Hors série: Famille chrétienne, Paris, 1997). I am using the feminine when speaking.of visionaries, since in recent apparitions, as in the history of the Church, mystics with a message, more usually than not, are women. The opposite was true of the prophets under the Old Law. Considering the preceding common-sense criteria, it comes as a surprise to learn how numerous the gullible believers are who are taken in by seers whose real incentive is personal enrichment. It should be obvious that authentic visionaries are totally disinterested. There is hardly a greater incentive for false apparitions than authentic ones. It works in the following way. Unbalanced or suggestible persons can be

152 AUTHENTICITY AND DEMONOLOGY These rules, grounded on common-sense, experience and tradition, are well known. When they are brought forward, however, and put to use, the conclusions drawn may differ from one person to the other. Sometimes, outside considerations interfere. Today, with our desire for "renewal" or "modernity," we are often distracted and prevented from concentrating on the essentials. By "essentials," it is the signs from Heaven that are meant: "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, 'A shower is coming'; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky; but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?" (Lk 12: 54-56; Mt 16: 2-4). If the world has changed for the better, this is because of the solicitude of Providence for the little fold, the small remnant of Christendom faithful to Peter, to whom the mass of those who are faithful in name only should adhere. If things have taken a turn for the worse, it is because of the magnitude of the defections from faith, the distortions of morality and the denial of the Natural Law through which "modernity" expresses itself today. Padre Pio is reported to have said: "Authentic apparitions will be disbelieved. When false apparitions occur, these will have a following." He who could read men's consciences and excelled at discerning deception, received the visionaries of Garabandal with warmth. His pessimistic appraisal of human gullibility was the reason why the capacity of Medjugorje to draw crowds made me at first fear the worst. But the devil is not an apostle of Good News, even when he takes on a pilgrim's guise. It is not he who brings the sinner back into the fold of the Church and to the observance of the ten commandments. Just as morality forbids committing evil for a good end, the devil finds himself tied down by his own subversion of values, and is incapable of doing led by reports of supernatural events into believing that they themselves have been granted similar favours from Heaven. Or it could be a case of evildoers who find in deception a source of profit or a satisfaction for their vanity. The worst wrongdoer of all is, of course, the devil, who tries to lead the faithful astray, sow confusion and distract public attention from authentic apparitions. At Lourdes, for instance, and in the vicinity, a plethora of pseudo- apparitions were reported soon after the authentic ones of Bernadette had come to an end. 153 THE DEVIL IS PRAGMATIC what is good, even for a bad motive. What is truly good belongs to a supernatural order to which he cannot even aspire. Grace, as such, is beyond his ken - a most mortifying limitation. His empire is bounded by restrictions of his own making. Yet, we have been told by gullible authors, 104 that the one who is put to rout by holy water105 originated in Medjugorje the most prodigious return to the practice of individual confession that has been registered in the last forty years! Had not the devil successfully promoted in America and elsewhere, a customary and routine administration of collective absolution without confession? Are we to believe that he will, so as to confuse the issue, implausibly preach a Gospel of penance in one place while doing the opposite everywhere else? He is credited with a Machiavellianism proportional to his duplicity. However, if he can further the extension of the Kingdom of God, it will be according to the paradox that whatever happens contributes to the salvation of the elect.

104 Like the brothers Michel de la Sainte Trinité and Augustin du Saint Sauveur: Medjugorje en toute vérité selon le discernement des esprits (La Contre-Réforme catholique, 1991, 520 pages), or Bouffiet: Medjugorje ou La fabrication du surnaturel (Paris, Ed. Salvador, 1999). 105 The capacity of the devil to pass himself off as the Virgin is limited by his own intrinsic shortcomings: for instance, the following episode which took place at Cossirano, where "apparitions" had been reported (1953-1968), but which the bishop had warned against. "Five young women belonging to Catholic Action [went there] one day to find out what was really happening. They had brought along holy water, a few drops of which they threw discreetly in the direction of what a few tearful children thought was the Virgin. What happened then was hardly bearable. The poor children uttered awful cries, fell into contortions on the ground, and tried in vain to flee. When they came back to their senses, they declared that at the very moment when the women had thrown the holy water – a fact which they had not noticed – the figure of the Virgin which they had seen under the appearance of had changed into a hideous, menacing and roaring monster, surrounded by flames, struggling in frightful convulsions." (Joachim Bouffiet: Encyclopédie des phénomènes extraordinaires dans la vie mystique, T. I: Le jardin des livres, Paris, 2001, pp. 225-226).

154 HOW TO DUPE PEOPLE

Banneux

The question which remains is whether blessed water is always as effective or not. Should not such failures dissuade the devil from dissembling as the Virgin? What benefit does he expect? He scores, however, on two points: firstly, by duping people, which is an inveterate habit of his; secondly, by spreading among faithful and priests those germs of skepticism which will turn them away, at least now and then, from giving credence to genuine apparitions. If in his art of makeup and disguise he is credited with a success-rate which he does not deserve, however, it is in the dissemination of false rumors that he is at his most effective. In fact, this latter method was crowned with success, when after the authentic apparitions of Beauraing and Banneux, he multiplied his own fraudulent apparitions in various places. By thus confusing the issue, he caused Church authorities to overreact. As a result, as long as Cardinal Ottaviani was in office at Rome, reports of apparitions were greeted with distrust. It took Vatican II to change the mood in which announcements of apparitions were received at the Sacred Office. This improvement was very much to the devil's distress, since he loves to see prophets disparaged, ridiculed and side-lined.

155 BEAURAING

The Immaculate Virgin of Beauraing Mother of God and

The visionaries of Beauraing Fernande, Berthe and Albert Voisins, Andrée and Gilberte Degeimbres

156 THE PRIMACY OF REASON TWENTY FOUR PRINCIPATUS RATIONIS

he primacy of reason is an argument which may be formulated in the following way: "Faith is concerned with what has been defined by the Church. Private revelations, however, do not belong to this domain. Therefore, they are to be submitted to the rule of reason." This means that there are things which we believe because they are officially revealed, and others that we deal with in a spirit of free enquiry. Should not the latter indeed be open to question? For not only are they questionable, but they are of such a nature that they should be questioned. It is as if we were duty bound to view them with suspicion. This sceptical approach, seen as a moral obligation, if it may seem meritorious to many, may appear to others as somewhat far-fetched. Whatever the case may be, there are grounds enough in the above considerations to reject a priori all novelties of any kind in the spiritual order. Thus the supernatural category of wonders, such as the patina on a reliquary, depends solely on the verdict of secular . It is not the response to a momentary fad. Instead, critical reflexion, sharpened by aberrant cases of the past, deconstructs the implausible event, which has the double handicap of being contemporary and disturbing. Routine reassures, and reason abhors what is unexplainable. For what is beyond reason, seems as irretrievable as what is beyond logic. ̶ 4 ̶ This being said, we have to be reminded that reason has its limits. Pascal spoke of "la raison imbécile" when he felt it usurped its powers by entering into conflict with a theological virtue. For the Faith by which we live cannot be restricted to what one calls the vital minimum for salvation. It is also applicable to the realm where it is associated with prudence and to that register of secondary causes that lead to devotional practices. Thus, we trust the judgment of a wise and experienced spiritual advisor. In the same way, we may be called upon to decide upon the usefulness of a pilgrimage or the spiritual benefits arising from a . Beside the minimal approach, there is the spontaneous movement of affection of a child for its Mother. To

157 MODERNISM honour Mary with appropriate devotions is a joy, and these will be as treasured in Heaven as they were dutifully practiced on earth. There is in every one of us an accountant at work that would like to ignore whatever figures apply to non-measurable data. For his competence is restricted to science, and he seeks in modernism a corrective to speculative theology. He sees a necessary link between the subversion of mystery and the unconditional belief in progress. It would be a form of superstition, according to his aberrant religious feeling, to sacrifice modernity to tradition. But we cannot trust him. Quite the contrary, our faculty of admiration before the unfathomable designs of God should nourish our devotion for whatever is great and unexpected. Far from criticizing events because they are mysterious, we should welcome with shouts of joy whatever surprises Heaven has in store for us. Nothing is as consoling, through a divine variation on the principle of subsidiarity, than to admit that the Virgin has seized the initiative, as she did at Cana, and that we owe to her, through her present-day apparitions this crowning grace, this wine of fortitude, this tonic for our soul, which we, having exhausted our own resources, still need for our salvation.

158 BANNEUX

Our Lady of Banneux Mother of the Poor

159 TWO COLUMNS: THE EUCHARIST & THE VIRGIN

Don Bosco's vision

160 ONE CAN NEVER INSIST ENOUGH ON THE GREATNESS OF MARY TWENTY FIVE DE MARIA NUMQUAM SATIS

hese words of St Bernard, taken literally, would mean we should surrender all we are and all we have to her rule. Such was apparently Father Kentenich's plan with his Schonstadt foundation. But there were those critics who thought he went too far, and that by giving too much credit to Mary he was restricting somewhat the sovereignty of God. In consequence, Father Kentenich was exiled for fourteen years to the USA. ̶ 4 ̶ "De Maria nunquam satis" These should not be mere words. What they really imply is "the slavery to Mary" of Grignion de Montfort or of Father Kolbe, or the "'' of John Paul II. Their lives reflect the extraordinary spiritual efficacy of this state of filial subjection to Mary. We are to expect from such a good Mother "the overabundant measure" mentioned in the Gospel. The graces which she dispenses, having no other obstacle than our lack of cooperation, the role she still has to play as Queen of those "apostles of the last times" is the one mentioned by Grignion de Montfort. The Eucharist and the Virgin are the two columns, according to Don Bosco's vision, to which Peter's bark will be moored to face the stormy times facing the Church. Who can express the greatness of Mary? More especially, because she gave the first place in her life to the virtues which can truly be called divine, those of gratitude and humility. Gratitude, because with God, love is of the essence. God will thank the elect in Heaven for the good use to which they put his gifts, and for the very opportunity they gave Him to express his love. Did he not say that "he would gird up his loins" to serve them? As for humility, was it not the supernatural seal set on human nature when the Word became flesh, and the very excess which led him to lower himself even further (sum vermis et non homo)?106 He submitted to man's judgment to the point where he accepted his own crucifixion and death, and the defilement of his image in the spirit of his followers. 106 "I am a worm and not a man."

161 In her emulation of these virtues, Mary is a model. She chose to remain silent when she could have undeceived Joseph. She accepted to be taken for what she was not in anticipated conformity to the humiliations of her Son.107 Is it not so that the opposite of what one expects is on the side of the good, but of a goodness that is mysterious because it is supernatural? Mary understood that a Mother finds herself, towards her child, and even her unborn child, in a situation of inferiority, since every maternity corresponds to a finality transcending the self. Her Son will be rejected by the wicked, while now at Nazareth it is she, the Mother, who is in the situation of being repulsed by the most righteous of men.108 Her silence evokes that of her Son before Pilate: "You do not speak?" For she does not say anything which could enlighten Joseph. She assumes freely this configuration to a yet unrealized pattern. When she speaks, it is only to praise God. "My true office is in the praise." All her life is one of thanks. All we hear from her is a "fiat," a "magnificat," a "Fili, quid fecisti nobis sic" and a "facite quod dixerit."109 And then that is all. Yes, "He that is mighty hath done" to her "great things," since He has set aside for her the emulation of the hidden virtues of her Son, and the most intimate participation in his abasement.

107 This silence is a mystery which belongs to "the secrets of the King." Among the ten degrees of humility, the greatest is that exemplified by Christ who accepted to die as a criminal of the lowest order, or by Mary who, as a bride to be, acquiesced nonetheless to the loss of her reputation in the eyes of her fiancé, the logical consequence of which would have been his refusal "to take her into his house," and her permanent defilement in the eyes of the somewhat puritanical society of those days. 108 According to Maria Valtorta, the trial was such that in a few days Joseph's hair became white. This , who lived under the economy of salvation of the Old Law, is nonetheless "the greatest of the Saints" of the New Law. With the exception of Mary, of course. 109 "Son, why has thou done so to us?" and "Do whatever he tells you."

162 MARY'S MESSAGE In exchange, the Lord has elevated her above all creatures. And here she is, pursuing in heaven the task she had been entrusted with on earth. Having been the first to learn of the coming of the Messiah, she is now the messenger of His return. She fulfills for us the same role as Gabriel: she announces the dawn of new times. She deserves a "fiat" on our part, a perfect readiness towards the message which she is bringing, a spirit of compunction similar to the one that was hers, ages ago, in a forsaken township of Galilee.

The Annunciation Mikhail Nesterov

163 Mother Mary in tears at La Salette

164 CONCERNING MARY'S GLORY TWENTY SIX DE GLORIA MARIAE

ary's glory is obviously a reflection of God's glory. And yet there are so many Christians who are afraid it may detract from the "unum necessarium." Let us not add to this grievance by flaunting unnecessarily the attributes of a creature we hold in such esteem! The Virgin appears nowadays in so many places, intervening so to speak in the course of history! God can doubtless delegate whom He wants when he wants to gratify us with private revelations. They should not be given such an importance, however, that Protestants may think that we are on the one hand slighting God, and on the other questioning the usefulness of an ecumenical dialogue... ̶ 4 ̶ Such considerations are widespread in Germany... Even if they fly in the face of the intentions Providence expressed at Fatima and elsewhere. "In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph," says the Virgin, who knows that she has been sent to accomplish deeds that will fill men and angels with wonder. God chose a Mother for his Son; but this was not enough, for He wanted her to contribute in a visible, obvious and manifest way to the fulfilment of his perennial designs. Such is the implication we discover and read in the message of Lourdes or Fatima. The events of this world, on a historical background made "of noise and fury," have as an ultimate finality that they reveal, at least through indirection, the "glory of Mary" with all her providential attributes. We know already that her glory reflects God's glory as a mirror facing the sun. Because of the present-day spiritual decline into which humanity has fallen, we turn towards her as towards our last hope. The special attributes her Son granted her thus come to the fore: she is the dispenser of graces towards sinners, the mediatrix of our salvation. And the historical dramas we have trouble surviving are the opportunity offered for the discovery of these Gospel truths. Our century, more deeply corrupted by Satan than any before, would like to

165 "TO JESUS THROUGH MARY" escape from impending fateful choices. It will enjoy no surcease from this dilemma, however, until it is convinced that it must remain indebted to the Communion of Saints, to whom Mary belongs as its Queen. Until this truth has been properly and freely assumed, we are truly in danger. Once fully accepted, it will become the instrument of our salvation. For the Immaculate Heart of Mary is the road leading to the Heart of Jesus. "But why complicate our access to God in this way?" a few faithful might ask. Of course, God is fully aware of those who yearn for Him. But if he wishes to render hommage to his Mother for the salvation of our souls, according to the principle of spiritual subsidiarity proper to the Catholic Church, we would be ill-advised to want to do without her. "To Jesus through Mary," such is the maxim proposed. It is also our chance. Let us be grateful for it.

166 THE HIDDEN GOD ˗ OR OF GOD'S ABSENCE TWENTY SEVEN DEUS ABSCONDITUS SIVE DE ABSENTIA DEI

od seems to be absent from the Creation he sustains in being. Where was He during World War II when Hitler liquidated in Europe the seed of ? Had the sons of the promise lost all right to His sollicitude? A few rabbis have since then developed a theology of the silence of God. They have expressed the wish that in response to this silence, the Catholic Church should not celebrate its liturgies on the very spot hallowed by the martyrdom of so many Jews. However questionable is this implicit reproach to a God of mercy for tolerating a totalitarian evil, it has its metaphorical equivalent in the spirituality of "the hidden God." God having shown himself once and for all to Moses in the storm, and having spoken through the prophets before taking flesh in Jesus Christ, there is no further reason to wish for communication on His part on any grounds whatsoever. Faith gives access to eternal life, precisely because it does not receive confirmation in this world. Science rests on evidence. In what respect could an experimental knowledge open the way to salvation? ̶ 4 ̶ The drawback of this spirituality of the silence of God is that it does not take contingency into account. It rests upon a supernatural outlook and the purity of faith. Both are essential, of course, and life soon puts them to the test, as it did for the Jews massacred by Hitler. Those are situations where the cry of Jesus on the Cross is appropriate: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" But the Holocaust and Calvary are by some mysterious decrees of Providence moments that could be called, behind the veil of appearance, too exclusive and privileged an affront to our mortality to justify their repetition. "Why do your disciples eat and drink when those of fasted and did penance?" Such, in substance, is the reproach addressed by the Scribes and Pharisees to Jesus. ''As long as the Bridegroom is there, they rejoice at His presence. The time will come when they will miss Him,

167 MARY'S INVITATION and then they will be sad," came the answer. The absence of God is the awareness of this deprivation in the times of trial. It is in anticipation of this sacrifice that the Master spares his disciples and serves them the wine of his presence at the time of his nuptials. His foreknowledge of the "plagues" that will afflict mankind incites him to send the Virgin as his messenger, the Virgin of Cana, who takes care of the wants of the guests. Mary invites us to meet her Son. We are the children of our belief, since we witness the reflected light of the apparitions in the eyes of the visionaries. "I believe Lord, but help my unbelief." Thus is a theological virtue strengthened through otherwise contingent interventions. Vain is the theology of absence when we are invited to sit at the table prepared for our refection! The time will come soon enough, when the memory of what was, will remain for our consolation! But this station in the course of our life will have proven useful. We will have gathered the necessary strength for the trip through the desert awaiting us when we least expect it. Judicious is the distribution of joys and pains according to God's plan; and assistance anticipates the need we will have of it. 110

110 In the meantime, let us remember that "an innocent who suffers sheds over evil the light of salvation [because] he is the visible image of the innocent God." Simone Weil: Oeuvres complètes VI 2, Paris, Gallimard, 1997 p. 333.

168 MARY, MOTHER AND TEACHER TWENTY EIGHT MATER ET MAGISTRA

he Church as Mother and Teacher": as the title of this encyclical suggests, our Church is the tutelary and teaching Mother instructing us through her Catechesis, exhorting us through her predication, and sanctifying us through her Sacraments. She is the guardian of the truths confided to her by Christ, from which she draws the treasures, both old and new, coresponding to the needs of our souls. She suffices. With her, we lack nothing. No parallel teaching is necessary outside the traditional ecclesiastical frame of reference. So, when we read about the messages conveyed to us through the visionaries of Mary, we cannot but observe that they seem to assume a function which has not been authorized by official investiture. For even if they deny it, they do preach, instruct and prophesy, as if they had been commissioned to do so. They call to penance, they censure deviant behaviour, they foretell the future. Should we heed these voices from the wilderness as if from some new John the Baptist? John XXIII, to whom a seer had transmitted a message from Heaven, observed that Providence disposed at will of more direct channels of communication! · ̶ 4 ̶ This seemingly pertinent objection has often been voiced. Those who think it is decisive, however, forget what the Church owes to the charisms of its members. Catherine of Sienna dared to call on the Pope to live up to God's expectations, and Lucy of Fatima asked for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Furthermore, Vatican II, more than any council before it, insisted upon the part laymen and women should play, whenever their irreplaceable charisms complemented the traditional functions of the Church. For if the salt loses its flavour, with what can it be reclaimed? It is hardly unjustified today to observe that the clergy has not been exempt from the crisis of faith to which the faithful are exposed. Whether it be in matters of catechesis, predication or administration of the Sacraments, this reality diverges only too often from the rule of law and the safety

169 "FAITH AND CUSTOM ARE ONE" of tradition. Books that are not orthodox have been placed in the hands of unsuspecting children, sermons have been preached that are more sociological than evangelical - sermons in which hell was more than implicitly denied - sacraments have been distributed as from a coin- machine, with hardly any regard to rules of propriety, licence or even sometimes validity (for instance, following the annulments of marriages on demand, or in collective absolutions routinely dispensed). Theology only too often wanders off into the waste-land of speculative philosophy, as if the riddles of nature could help solve the mysteries of the faith. As for modern liturgy, it is so wantonly inventive as to follow any fad or fashion, without any regard to the consequences of destabilizing devotion or relativising dogma. Had it wanted to, it could not have found a better method to "quench the reed that is still smoking" than to further its evolutionary program. Wanton alteration, however, imperils conviction. As Pascal has observed, "for the common folk, faith and

111 Cf. Pascal, Pensées (Brunschvicg 245, 250, 252, 325) where one reads that a belief which has not been assumed by observance soon dies out – an obvious statement, if ever there was one! Faith is spiritual, but it cannot endure if the body does not translate with appropriate gestures a conviction embracing the whole of man. Virtue is a habitus. Once unsettled, it loses its material support. If Christian dogma is based on Tradition as much as on Scripture, then religion is bound up both with its past and with the expression it receives from an immemorial rite. Institutions are sustained by custom. If custom is arbitrarily modified, the whole feeling of belonging, on which it rested, loses its impact on the soul.... While for Pascal, "there are three roads to belief: reason, custom, inspiration" (Pensées, ed. Brunschvicg no. 245), it is reassuring to observe that the third one, inspiration, is equally at work in the places of Marian apparitions. Among all these places, there are none in which Mary has fulfilled this role of "Mater et Magistra" seemingly as thoroughly as at San Nicolas in (1983-1990) where, through her mouthpiece, Gladys Herminia Quiroga de la Motta, she proposed not only the traditional teachings of dogmatics and ethics, but backed up what she said with extensive references to the Old and the New Testament, precisely as a Father of the Church would have done. The dramatic implication of the uprooting of practices hallowed by tradition is that, once removed, they cannot be reintroduced, except by a miracle almost as great as a resurrection.

170 WHY RACHEL IS WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN custom are one."111 Modify custom, and religion loses its hold on the faithful. Disconcerted by appearances, people feel they have been short- changed on essentials, and that they should promptly renounce what no longer reassures. It is at this very moment, when the confusion of minds has reached its climax, that "a voice is raised in Rama, "Rachel plorans filios suos..., quia non sunt": 112 the Church is bereft of her children,

Shall we take a leaf of wisdom from our Hindu friends? They practice yoga as the road to enlightenment. They acknowledge that proper posture is essential to the purpose they are pursuing. There is no merely spiritual short-cut to inspiration. Whatever disturbing elements we may find in their access to nirvana, their insistence on training the body to liberate the soul leads to palpable results. On the other hand, we in the West have only too often done away with kneeling as an expression of adoration or for the reception of the Eucharist, have manipulated the Body of our Lord with our unconsecrated hands, have held hands with our neighbours instead of joining them in gestures of supplication... (a) We have neglected the elementary rule that what we do with our body will affect what we think with our mind. The physical is to the spiritual what the flying-buttress is to the vault of a gothic church. Remove that graceful half-arch of stone, and the building will collapse. Would England's monarchy have subsisted for so long without the support of ritualized pageantry? If we treasure our Faith, let us not "go Protestant" in our liturgy! (a) It is true that these novelties, which resulted at first from what has been called "l'initiative de la base"(a grassroot initiative), have been endorsed by the Church and have become accepted and official practice. Experience shows, however, that they have not brought about the improvements in piety or attendance at Mass that might have been expected. It is noticeable that whenever communion was brought to the visionaries by angels in Garabandal, El Escorial, Medjugorje, etc ... it has always been in a way consonant with the traditional, and not current, liturgical practice. These lessons from Heaven have an implicit character, but they rejoin nonetheless what Cardinal Ratzinger used to write about the valid pteservation of past rites. 112 Rachel is weeping for her children,... because they are not." (Jer 31, 15).

171 ''TO WHAT SHALL I LIKEN THIS GENERATION?'' victimized by dispersion, loss or apostasy... Has this lament attaining Heaven, as in the days of servitude in Egypt or Babylon, been decisive in sending the Messenger of last recourse to the sheep in disarray? It is a fact that grace abounds where sin has multiplied, for "ubi Maria, ibi Spiritus Sanctus." Hence the commissioning of visionaries to fulfill the task of teachers of a doctrine only too often neglected: repetitive messages, instructive reiteration, rekindling of fervour, evocation of the necessity of repentance and penance. Whence a charismatic movement has grown, initiated by other than human resources (and not by the emulation of pentecostal protestantism), from which piety spreads as a contagion among otherwise indifferent bystanders and unbelievers. What is it that is taught in these places of apparitions, if it be not the truth too often omitted from Sunday sermons? That hell is the reward of sin, that confession is necessary, that faith saves only when it is proposed in its integrity, and that there is no dispensation from obedience to the Pope, or from observance of the precepts of the Church, or from following the rules of morality - these are the truths being taught. Most especially, a warning has been issued against the claims of a world already affected by the proximity of the chastisement announced by Daniel and the Apocalypse: an eschatology serviceable to conversion, an evocation of the vintage of wrath. Such accents hadn't been heard since La Salette - and who paid any attention then? - or even since St Paul, who, we know, was anticipating erroneously an event still far removed. Whatever the case, the Virgin, according to the supernatural application of the principle of subsidiarity, compensates for the clerical shortcomings that we have only too often noticed in preaching, and teaches a Gospel of conversion. God's intervention is already noticeable in the choice of the visionaries, which would seem commonplace were it not for the distinction received from their very selection, the inexperience of childhood or the lack of instruction, and sometimes even their lukewarm religiosity. Nothing can stop God except the rebellious human heart. Henceforth, it is not the docility of the visionaries that needs to be censured, but the indifference which greets the messages they transmit. To whom shall we compare this generation, if not to those children of the parable who do not want to dance to the flute, nor beat their breasts at their playmates' request (Mt 11: 16-17)? In the same way as the Jews, in the days of Christ, "found reasons to dissent from all manifestations of God's plans and

172 SODOM opposed them," 113 we do not catch the ball of our ultimate chance at its first rebound, nor do we enter into the scheme of providential mercy to which Mary invites us. The help she brings, in response to our spiritual distress, or even to the more ordinary means of salvation at our disposal, runs the risk of turning to our own detriment. Christ's most severe reproach addressed to the contumelious cities of Chorozain, Bethsaida and Capharnaum, was that if Sodom had benefited from similar signs and miracles, "it would have remained until this day'' (Mt 11: 20-24)! It is precisely to Sodom, whose sin is that of the inversion of values, that we have recently, through legislation upholding a similar reversal of morality, dedicated our emblematic rebellion ...

113 M.-J. Lagrange: Synopse des quatre évangiles (Gabalda, Paris, 1960, p. 81).

173 in San Nicolas

Gladys Herminia Quiroga de la Motta

174 THE BISHOP HAS AUTHORITY OVER THE FAITHFUL TWENTY NINE EPISCOPUS MAGISTER FIDELIUM

he bishop alone is qualified to pass judgment on supernatural events occurring in his diocese. His judgment alone is authoritative. That is why the faithful should not only dutifully acknowledge his verdict when it is rendered, but they should wait until he renders it before they flock to a place of apparitions. ̶ 4 ̶ Logic can be self-defeating. This argument, taken literally, would practically forbid access of the faithful to a place of apparitions. The visionary would be left alone with her visions - an absurd situation, since we are not speaking here of communications of Heaven intended for the recipient alone. As experience has shown, the bishop, in more than nine cases out of ten, at least initially disbelieves in the authenticity of the apparitions. 114 Or as a prudential measure, he decides either that their

114 From 1928 to 1975, no less than 232 Marian apparitions, or reported as such, have been registered. Their supernatural character has been recognized by the local bishop, since he alone is competent to do so, in only about six cases. For 97.5% of the apparitions, the verdict has been either of non-authenticity or, usually, of non-established authenticity, even when the place of apparitions has been granted the status of "a place of devotion." (a) (Cf. Dr. Anton Ziegenaus: Wicht neue Inhalte, sondern Hinweis auf übersehene Glaubenswahrheiten, Der Fels, Juli-Aug. 1999, p. 98). In this respect, Germany stands apart, since it is the only Catholic Nation – Catholic by 30% – where for 200 years, no new Marian apparitions have been officially recognized. This is regrettable, since many have taken place which met the standards of validation used by the Church in other countries... Is it because in that land the Catholics are exposed to the influence of Luther? (a) 97.5% is the figure which applied until 1999. It is now closer to 95%, since Kibeho in Rwanda, Balestrino and Montechiari in Italy, l'Ile- Bouchard in France, and Amsterdam in Holland have lately officially been authenticated as places of apparitions. 175 VOX POPULI VOX DEI supernatural character is not proven or even, exceptionally, that they are not supernatural. And when he, or his successor, overcomes this initial negativism, the apparitions have long since come to an end. Sometimes, in fact, as in the case of Amsterdam, a half-century has passed. This happens because the bishop, as if he were consulting an "advocatus diaboli," will first take into consideration all conceivable objections. 115 However, if one abstracts from the fruits of prayer, conversion or cure which occur as a result of the spirit of devotion of the faithful, the most objective element of authenticity will be missing. To prevent the faithful from flocking to the place of apparitions is, some say, an effective means of neutralizing Heaven. Of course, Providence takes into account the privileges of the hierarchy which it divinely instituted. It is therefore all the more regrettable when, through some professionally induced bias, and the paralyzing scruples of a delicate conscience, measures are taken against the spiritual benefits to be expected. Catherine Labouré, after she heard of the "I am the " of Lourdes, revealed that, had it not been for the partly unfavourable attitude of her immediate superiors, these apparitions, accompanied by wondrous healings, would have taken place earlier at the Rue du Bac. To what uncooperative attitude could she have been alluding, if not to the refusal to have the big cross erected which Heaven had asked for? The traditional saying "Vox populi, vox Dei," which, in the early centuries led to the canonisation of Saints or the creation of pilgrimages, has not lost any of its initial reliability. Nor have the newly formulated rules concerning the discernment of spirits invalidated it. 116 "Let us recall the spectacular case of Fatima, where, many years after the apparitions, the cardinal of Lisbon forbade priests to mention

115 According to Father Benedict J. Groeschel it is very bad news indeed for Church officials when they learn that the Blessed Virgin has appeared to someone. Those whose functions confront them with more difficulties than they can master truly deserve our sympathy. (A Still, Small Voice: A Practical Guide on Reported Revelations: Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1993? P. 112). 116 "The voice of the people is the voice of God." If this motto were taken literally, the cause of many contemporary Marian apparitions would be beyond dispute. At Medjugorje, for instance, on June 24 and 25, 1983, for the second anniversary of the first apparition, there were a third more pilgrims than the previous year; ie, a crowd estimated at

176 MIRACLES SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS it, under the penalty of sanctions; or the lack of discernment of his successor, who admitted that when he was a bishop, he still thought the reported events were not authentic." 117 The question is whether a spirit of suspicion should prevail. For nothing is more evangelical than places of apparitions, especially because of the marvels that serve to authenticate them. When St. John the Baptist sent his disciples to enquire about the true identity of the Messiah, they received the answer: "Go and bring back to John what you have seen and heard: the blind see, the halt walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead resuscitate, the Good News is announced to the Poor" (Lk 7: 22). Since Lourdes, and in various places, the Virgin, through the miracles which accompany her presence, has performed under our climes the good works which Christ is speaking about. It is opportune to mention, for her, as for him: "Blessed is he who takes no offence at me!" (Lk 7: 23). Jesus had more than words to back up what he was teaching. "[If you do not believe in My words], believe Me for the sake of the works themselves" (Jn 14: 10-11). Today the Virgin speaks in a similar vein. "If you do not believe that the messages that I transmit are from God, believe at least because of the accompanying miracles." We have seen with St. John the Baptist which are the works that should persuade even the reluctant. Could those which Mary performs be of a different nature? Those which should carry the greatest weight are the conversions. But the cures are no less remarkable. The natural prodigies, like the

150,000 people" (Marijan Ljubic: La Vierge Marie apparaît en Yougoslavie (Medjugorje) (Ed. du Parvis, CH-1631 Hauteville, 1984 (?), p.127). The Church respects the true freedom of the children of God, since, when the bishops asks, for instance as in El Escorial, for the visionary not to be present in person at the place of apparitions, he nonetheless authorizes the faithful to be there. ''The hierarchy cannot forbid lay people from coming to the Prado Nuevo, as Father Luis Gutierrez, episcopal vicar for justice, readily admits. No one can prevent [Christians] from praying when and wherever [they want]." According to Gabriel, collective anonymous author of the Premier récit authentique des apparitions de l'Escorial Fr.-X. de Guibert, Paris, 1996, p. 99). 117 José Luis de Urrutia, SJ: Le temps qui vient selon les prophéties (F.-X. de Guibert, Paris, 1997, pp. 49-50).

177 THE COMPELLING NATURE OF EXPERIENCE dancing of the sun, which the pilgrims can observe, recall, through their unexplainable character, the miracles which persuaded the disciples and the crowds in the days of Jesus – water changed into wine, the multiplication of the bread. Every man is (or should be!) competent in his own field of endeavour. Lest he fall, as a result, into a parochial view of things, he will need some supernatural help. No one is fully shielded from a "second nature," which can take precedence over his "true nature" and thwart its very purpose. Habit is restrictive, and custom can lead to prejudice, all the more so when it has been nurtured in school. Even priests, however high their calling, cannot escape from the limitations of human nature. They have been vaccinated, so to speak, by their ministry against aberrant mystics, devious devotions, hysterical trends. They can ascertain often enough that the true coins are scarcer than their unworthy facsimiles. As a result of this, they will tend to be sceptical where less sophisticated people will be receptive. "Errare humanum est." This does not mean, however, that some form of supervision must not be exercised. I did not enter into this lengthy disquisition on the failings proper to professionals to belittle the true exercise of authority. For if we impugn the God-given right of apostles or their successors, we are lost.

178 BALESTRINO AND MONTECHIARI

Catherine Richero of Balestrino

Our Lady of Reconciliation and Peace of Balestrino

Pierina Gilli Rosa Mystica of Montechiari of Montechiari

179 L'ÎLE-BOUCHARD

Our Lady of Prayer with the Angel Gabriel

Nicole Robin, Jacqueline & Jeanne Aubry, Laura Croizon, Visionaries of L'Île-Bouchard

180 "1N OUR ABSENCE" THIRTY IN ABSENTIA NOSTRA

hat has happened in our absence will not impair our better judgment. Objectivity is our aim. And there is no better way to preserve impartiality than by not submitting ourselves to the immediacy of personal experience. Whoever is not exposed to events shall not be swayed by them." ̶ 4 ̶ Even if responsible officials do not express themselves thus explicitly, this seems to be one of their reasons for staying away when the Virgin appears. Such, at least, is the explanation supplied by René Laurentin, the popular French mariologist. Is it not this very absence of the decision-makers, however, which prevents an objective appraisal of what is taking place? What would we say of a music critic who does not attend concerts? No museum director would pass judgment on unseen paintings. There are many criteria for the appreciation of beauty, but they all imply the immediacy of perception. Why should it not be the same for miracles or apparitions? The Bishop of Civitavecchia disbelieved the report of the Madonna statue weeping tears of blood until she did so under his very eyes and in his own home. Why not apply the same rules as in a law court, where visual witness is the most decisive argument? When the facts disprove the laws of nature, however, conjecture is often deemed preferable to evidence. The Virgin has a hard time dispelling the "a prioris'' of abstract considerations when religious authorities stay away upon hearing that she is coming. A charism can be observed. Without observation, knowledge cannot be experiential. In our scientific age, when only what is measurable is deemed worthy of notice, can one dispense with information collected first- hand? At Medjugorje, for instance, brainwave recordings of the seers during their visions do confirm the out-of-the-ordinary nature of what they are perceiving. If God sometimes condescends to meet the requirements of scientific proof, should we refuse to acknowledge this datum? If Heaven reveals its interventions through signs in the sun at Ostina, waves of rose-perfume in mid-winter at Schio, rotations on its

181 ABSENCE DISQUALIFIES axis of the neighbouring mountain-top cross at Medjugorje, should these reports from a plethora of witnesses not incite the shepherds to come and see for themselves what is already obvious to the flock? The most compelling evidence is that offered to a confessor from the lips of a repentant sinner. He can then verify in person the truth of the following statement made by Father Dietrich von Stockhausen, who remained two years in Medjugorje: "After two hours of hearing confessions, one knows that this is a place of miracles." How deplorable it is when the commission created to determine the authenticity of apparitions consists of specialists knowledgeable in all areas except that under study! Almost as a rule, it will be made up of canonists, theologians, scriptural scholars, etc., everyone and anyone except experts in spirituality and mysticism. It is true that this latter field does not have many practitioners! As Father Laurentin has aptly said: ''Apparitions are the sector the least studied in all of theology, the most exposed to confusion and to tentative efforts, and where discernment is the most difficult."118 Whether it be at Heroldsbach, Medjugorje or Garabandal, minds are divided. And that is understandable. What is significant, however, is that the dividing line between the believers and the sceptics is that the first have witnessed what has convinced them, while the second have committed themselves to negate events they have declined to witness. If no lesser figure than an apostle could disbelieve in what he had not seen, is it astonishing that doubting Thomases abound among the absentees of Marian apparitions?

118 Stella Maris, Switzerland, Sept. 2002, p.12.

182 THE LAW OF THE CHURCH THIRTY ONE LEX ECCLESIÆ

Every bishop is supreme in his own jurisdiction. What he says carries with it the full weight of his divinely established office. Who are we, mere laymen, to question and quibble when he negates the authenticity of apparitions in which we would like to believe? ̶ 4 ̶ This authority is not to be questioned. History shows, nevertheless, that what one bishop has done, his follower may undo. And whether opposition comes from the head of the diocese or from clergy of lower rank, or even from laymen, these critics should not assume that this negative attitude of theirs is, for themselves personally, a matter of negligible import. If the apparitions are genuine, then the responsibility of those who take steps to obstruct Heaven's intentions, can have unforeseeable and frightening consequences. It would be inappropriate for those who have not shared in the counsels of Providence, to assign a relationship of cause and effect between official opposition to Marian apparitions and this responsible person's untimely death. We can conjecture, however, concerning what may have been mere coincidence, even if some people maintain that what cannot be demonstrated should not be put into print. Because certain facts give cause to ponder, the historian should mention them, while leaving it for the reader to judge for himself. Let us call attention, therefore, to the accident which befell the bishop of Santander, Puchol Mantis, whose car plunged into a ravine two months after he had declared that there had been neither apparitions nor messages at Garabandal. He himself was at the wheel, the car made several somersaults, his hands were crushed, the chauffeur at his side was unhurt, but the bishop died instantly. It was on May 8th, feast of St. Michael (of Monte Gargano), the archangel who had opened the series of apparitions. Francisco-Sanchez- Ventura y Pascual, the committed apostle of Garabandal, concluded that "it is not haphazard if in the bishopric of Santander, from whence issued the negative statements, six titular or auxiliary bishops or apostolic delegates succeeded one another in the space of eight years. As for the

183 "OVER MY DEAD BODY" vicar who forbade religious cult in the chapel of Garabandal which was dedicated to the archangel, he was also to die suddenly on May 1st, a Marian Holiday. 119 No less astonishing was the demise of the bishop of Piacenza, whose hostility to San Damiano seemed to observers both inopportune and excessive, within the first year of his promotion to the cardinalate seat of Bologna. More dramatic, however, was the fatal heart attack suffered by the bishop of Oria, whose territory included Manduria, on the morrow of the Sunday, December 14, 1997, when he had a pastoral letter read in all the churches of his diocese condemning Debora's visions as being of a diabolical nature. According to this same logic of a mysterious though impossible to establish requital, the pilgrims of San Damiano remember the military pilot whose jet crashed immediately after he had repeatedly buzzed the place of the apparitions. Furthermore, no less characteristic was the incurable illness which befell the local parish-priest who had stridently opposed the Escorial events. From his hospital bed, he recognized the hand that had struck him for a disbelief which he regretted bitterly, "comparing himself to Saul on the road to Damascus." This last interpretation is especially significant, since it emanates from the party involved. 120 The following coincidence is no less surprising. At Heroldsbach, a seminarian from another diocese was photographed as he removed from the parish church door the notice forbidding entry to pilgrims of the neighbouring place of apparitions. He was summoned by the local bishop to be reprimanded. "But, Excellency, according to a decree of Paul VI, the faithful cannot be forbidden from praying wherever they choose." Plucking up his courage, the young man asked why Heroldsbach should not be established as a "Gebetsstätte" ("an official place of worship"). "Over my dead body," was the answer. This utterance proved to be prophetic, when, twenty-five years later, on January 18, 1998, the retired bishop died between 8 and 9 am, one hour before the issuance at 9, of his successor's declaration establishing Heroldsbach

119 Anna-Maria Turi: Pourquoi la Vierge apparaît aujourd'hui, Felin, Paris, 1988, pp. 240-241). 120 L'Escorial messages 1992-1998: Association Vierge des Douleurs du Pré-Neuf de l'Escorial, F-64170 Artix, 1999, p. 343). 184 "GOD ALWAYS HAS THE LAST WORD" as a "Gebetsstätte." The prelate thereby seemed to confirm through his own death the authenticity of apparitions he had not wanted to recognize during his life. 121 The most tragic instance, however, evokes the biblical incident of the boys who were devoured by bears for having mocked the prophet Elijah (II Kings 2: 23-24). A similar retribution awaited five abusive young girls who publicly ridiculed Luz Amparo of El Escorial and her visions. They promptly perished in a car accident. Their souls appeared to the visionary, of whom no fewer than four, on their way to hell, were lamenting their fate. The fifth soul,"however, mortally wounded, rejoiced that she had been granted time enough to repent". 122 If such incidents were taken at face-value by decision-makers in chancelleries, they might go a long way to explain why apparitions are greeted there with more reluctance than eagerness. Other factors, nonetheless, seem to be at work, such as the low statistical probability of the authenticity of the apparitions. Thus, when in doubt, negative pronouncements seem more appropriate than positive ones. As a result, the dictates of prudence will only too often at first outweigh the rules of evidence. A "non constat de supernaturalitaten" ("the supernatural

121 According to Father Dietrich von Stockhausen, chaplain at Heroldsbach. In the past, Providence has often punished non-cooperation with its will on the part of Churchmen, thus exemplifying in the course of history Gamaliel's warning to the Sanhedrin: "If this plan or work... is of God... you may find yourselves fighting... against God." (Acts 5: 38) To bring this point to light, Pierre Liogier d'Hardhuy in his book Voici la fin des temps (Résiac, Montsurs, 1995, pp. 143- 144) mentions the dramatic deaths of "Monseigneur Fava and Monseigneur Ginouilhac, bishops of Grenoble, and of Monseigneur Darbois, bishop of Paris, who had persecuted Mélanie and Maximin of La Salette. These bishops were acting in opposition to the supreme authority of Popes Pius IX and Leo XIII. God always has the last word. As for the three judges who condemned Saint Joan of Arc to the scaffold, they were deservedly struck by divine justice: bishop Cauchon died suddenly as he was being barbered, the corpse of d'Estivet was discovered in a sewer, and Nicolas Midy, leprous, died in a leper-house." 122 Cf. supra: L'Escorial...: pp. 61-62.

185 MIRACLES AUTHENTIFY character of these events is not established") is then issued as a kind of substitute for "time will tell". But the time in question can stretch on for fifty years, as was the case for Amsterdam. If the Gospel is to be our source of inspiration, however, then the following quotation is appropriate. When St. John the Baptist sent his own disciples for their own benefit to enquire whether Christ was the Messiah, they received the following answer: "Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached." For the Virgin, beginning with Lourdes, these are the distinctive signs of the authenticity of her mission. It is appropriate that the following verse should be added, no less in her case than in His: ''And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended by me" (Lk 7: 22- 23). To take offence at works of mercy performed outside of their usual frame of reference is a very peculiar and untoward behaviour.

186 THIRD PART

Let us pause for a moment and look behind the scenes: the stage- hands are at work. As in a medieval miracle-play, the Virgin, who is our Deus ex machina, is expected at any moment to intervene in the course of the troubled action and set things right. Angels hover in the background with tremulous wings, awaiting their orders. Altar-boys, disguised as pages, provide uncertainty, looking up their parts on slips of paper, while the devil lurks behind the props and the stage manager bustles around. The main performer amidst all this pageantry, however, is the pedant who dampens the fever of expectation by explaining to the audience, before the curtain goes up what is going to happen. After he has had his say, the real story can unfold, to the audience as astonishing and new as if a happy end were not to be expected... In their naïve way, these medieval miracle-plays reported unbelievable interventions by Mary. We would have preferred less fiction and more fact. But legends are true in a mythical way, and their success showed that they expressed popular feeling. As in the case of Everyman, sinners, whose unedifying careers unfolded on the porches of Cathedrals, were saved when they hardly seemed to deserve it. For no limits can be set to God's mercy. And this is what these pageants of grace have. in common with contemporary Marian apparitions... 123

123 The Middle Ages understood the dilemma of the sinner full well, which is how to get to Heaven at the slightest cost, and the miracle-play was the answer. Since it was supposed both to entertain and to edify, it made the necessary concessions to show-business, and the suspense was breathtaking, because the alternative was clear: either hell or Paradise. The devil had his day on stage, where he hammed it up to the point that some lesser actors took umbrage. Death was the unwelcome visitor and Father Time ushered him in at the appropriate moment.

187 "HE THAT IS NOT AGAINST US IS FOR US"

Stained glass of the Heroldsbach vision of hell

188 IN CASE OF DOUBT, ABSTAIN! THIRTY TWO IN DUBIO

hen in doubt, abstain! Only too often, such is the "commonsense" slogan given in response to reports concerning current Marian apparitions. To abstain from committing oneself seems a meritorious form of self-denial. If we consult the Gospels, we find that " ...if any one says to you, 'Lo, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe [him]" (Mt 24: 23-24; Mk 13: 21-22). Have we not been forewarned that "false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect"? Are there any serious reasons why these words of Christ should not apply equally well to Marian apparitions? Illusions are a permanent danger. Besides, the first duty of the Christian is to stay away from what could lead to partisanship and the creation of sects... ̶ 4 ̶ Tolerance and openness of mind are virtues nonetheless. The apostles were not aware of this when they tried to prevent an exorcist who did not belong to their group from casting out demons in the name of Christ. But their Master declared that they had been at fault, "for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us," or according to St. Luke, "for he that is not against you is for you" (Mk 9: 38-40 & Lk 9: 49-50). These comments are relevant today. The Virgin chooses her messengers according to criteria which are not always obvious, just as she accompanies her communications with miracles of conversion and of healing which we should not try to minimize under the pretext that "the supernaturality of the facts is not established." With this formula, the hierarchical authority, aware of its responsibility, wants to prevent hasty judgments and premature

124 "The supernatural character of the present events has not been established." This formula, currently used by the bishop or the commission to whom he has delegated his powers, corresponds to a 189 TO JUDGE THINGS UNSEEN commitments.124 This stock-phrase, however, does not imply that the visionaries are of bad faith, or that the messages are fictional, or that the conversions and cures are not real. For love, instead of being suspicious, "believes all things, hopes all things" (1 Co 13: 7). It trusts those who "cast demons out" in the name of Christ. For here are sinners who until then had been deaf to the teachings of the Church, and who have now recovered their hearing, as marvelously healed inwardly as the halt and blind Christ cured as a matter of course! Do not the most basic common sense and prudential judgments tell us that God is acting here? For He prudential decision. The point of view of the bishop cannot, as a rule, be immediately that of the faithful. For him, it is a matter of gaining time and escaping from the pressure and proximity of events. All the more so that the hierarchy remains unconvinced by what has influenced the faithful. It has not been impacted by the signs since it has not witnessed them. Thus a dichotomy stands as a wall between these two worlds, that of immediate experience for the ones, and diluted information for the others. The opposition between those "who have seen with their very eyes, what it means to have seen," and those who judge on the basis of reports of more or less prejudiced informants, is unavoidable. The bishop of Civitavecchia doubted that the tears of the weeping Madonna that the newspapers mentioned could be genuine until he took custody of the statue. When he saw in his own apartments that drops of blood were welling up out of the plaster eyelids, his distrust melted away as promptly as snow in the sun... It is true that, through a quirk of canon law, the bishop, if he happens to become a privileged witness of a miracle, thereby loses the right to authenticate the wonder in which he has begun to believe, since no one can simultaneously be judge and party. He must then relinquish his role as president or member of the commission established to decide on the supernaturality of the event. It is doubtless because of this rule that he often decides to stay away from the place of apparitions. He knows that if he chanced, as in the preceding example, to witness in person a manifestation from Heaven, he would forfeit his power of decision in the matter at hand. Jurisprudence frowns on personal involvement, to a point where it seems to go beyond the dictates of common sense. But rules are made to be observed! And in the long run, respect of Form is what guarantees the objectivity of Law. (Cf. "Civitavecchia, Eleven Years Later" by Father René Laurentin in Chrètiens Magazine, March 15, 2007, p. 11). 190 HEROLDSBACH alone has the power to cast out demons. Many articles and books have been printed whose authors tried to disprove the authenticity of current apparitions on the basis of isolated trivia. In the name of what could be called "the principle of integrality," they brush away, because of inconsequential considerations, a whole set of data whose convergence should suffice to prove the supernatural nature of the events under study. This is what is called "throwing out the baby with the bathwater." Most of the faithful lack the necessary expertise to sort out and analyse all the data on which the theologians must concentrate, sometimes, alas, with a myopia that detracts them from looking at the whole picture. The first decisive factor for a rational decision, however, is within the reach of all, which is to ask oneself whether there are conversions? In our time, with its widespread loss of faith (more than 100.000 a year in a country like Germany), all counter-trends should be greeted with enthusiasm. This is what renders Medjugorje so attractive to the observer, in spite of the conflict between the bishop and the Franciscan Fathers in charge. In contrast, the case of Heroldsbach (1949-1952) was the most depressing example of an occultation of what is of the essence, that is of the sinners finding their way back to God. For how can one interpret otherwise the obligation of retractation imposed on the visionaries under penalty of excommunication? It is to their credit that they refused, but to their detriment that they were deprived of the sacraments for eighteen years, until the penalty was finally lifted. And this happened at a place where priests were kept busy in their confessionals, sometimes from morning to night, and admitted that they were living through the most moving experience of their lives. As for the parish-priest, he declared that had he not been bound by the seal of secrecy, Heroldsbach would have long since been recognized, so great was the number of conversions. 125 But if the devil turned hermit, would we not be duped by appearances? What is of interest at this point are not the ploys and stratagems of the devil, but the fruits harvested by the Virgin. The devil is, of course, an excellent actor, stage-manager, producer, director. He can teach anything, including theology. He knows everything except what is essential. Contrariwise, the school of supernatural love is found in Manduria

125 Christel Altgott: Heroldsbach (Christel Altgott, Mönchengladbach, 1979, p. 24) 191 ... AS CENTER OF REEVANGELISATION (Calabria), where a young lady without any special competence teaches, edifies, and brings sinners back to God, following the instructions of Our Lady, essentially nothing new, simply the Gospel with its teaching on hell as a real possibility, and confession as a gate to heaven. 126 Was not this Sacrament only too often relegated to the museum of historical curiosities? It had taken as long as two centuries of uncertain practice in the Lutheran Church before it fell into oblivion because it had remained dear to Luther. In the twentieth century, it became almost obsolete in the Catholic Church in less than thirty years. In many countries, and in particular in Germany, it is practiced by less than 5% of churchgoers. 127

126 At least such was the case until recently when the bishop asked that the visionary no longer see the Virgin in public. 127 As for Heroldsbach, what was the lesson to be drawn at the time? Besides that of the necessity of religious practice, our Lady called for a crusade of prayer to counter the expansion of communism. Strangely enough, the word "crusade" was not used, perhaps because of its warlike connotation. But that was at the apex of the cold War, when the Virgin was pleading with and beseeching mankind to resort to the prayer of the rosary, and shedding tears of supplication as war was brewing in Korea. With the implicit blessing of the Allies, the "red dragon" had already made a mouthful out of the countries of the East, as we had been forewarned at Fatima. It was back in the news by its take-over of one third of Germany. And this was the peril the Virgin was evoking. Heroldsbach followed in the wake of Fatima, in its message and by its signs, such as the sun spinning in the sky, which was witnessed by 10,000 people. Historically, Heroldsbach remains noteworthy also for negative reasons, for the punitive measures taken at the time against the visionaries. If we mention these measures, it is because they expressed, in an extreme and excessive form, the opposition between the experience of those who were immediately concerned and the decisions taken a priori and, as it were, in abstracto in the chancelleries. One can only regret that the bishop, confronted by events which could mobilize up to tens of thousands of the faithful, should have abstained from coming in person to check the veracity of the reports he received, at a time when the local clergymen were unanimously favourable to the apparitions.

192 Our Lady of Heroldsbach

The irony of the situation is made all the more apparent by the contrast between the initial condemnation and the present-day approval. To promote Heroldsbach had been considered grounds for excommunication. It is now part of the policy, initiated by John Paul II, when Cardinal Ratzinger was the Head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, that it be promulgated as a center of the reevangelisation of Germany and Europe. More modestly, the present Bishop of Bamberg sees it as a spiritual center for the reevangelisation of his own diocese. 193 The nine little visionaries of Heroldsbach

194 LET US DISTINGUISH THIRTY THREE "DISTINGUO"

tatements concerning apparitions made by the visionaries or the bystanders should not be taken at face value. The power of suggestion in a group is so strong it affects objectivity. What has been said or what has taken place must be scrutinized outside of the immediate emotional context of the apparitions. This is better done by non-participants in the quiet and seclusion of an office... ̶ 4 ̶ What is implied here, of course, is that an analytical approach will soon reveal the real nature of the experience. If the whole was mysterious, the parts will be less so. The distinguo thus becomes the most efficacious weapon in the controversy surrounding apparitions. Certain features of previously recognized supernatural occurrences are taken as the norm when they were merely accidental. This way of proceeding, which is not necessarily the result of a deliberate intent, can have devastating results. Thus Father Gemelli, only too famous for his criticism of the stigmatist Padre Pio, would have been convinced, for instance, of the authenticity of the charism in question if the latter had corresponded to what history reports on the outward appearance of the stigmata of St. Francis. His scholarly erudition having convinced him of the opposite, in his eyes the case was closed. This conclusion was all the more unfounded in that his meeting with Padre Pio had been as fleeting as it had been inconclusive! In the same way, both at Heroldsbach (1949-52) and at San· Damiano (1961-81), the critics were sceptical of the apparitions since the visionaries were not ecstatic as St. had been at Lourdes. One might retort that the ecstatic state of the visionaries of Garabandal (1961-1965) or of Medjugorje (1881- 20 .. ), which is unquestionable, has not been considered proof enough to bring about the satisfecit of the bishops either. Since, in these two latter instances, however, other factors were at play which created difficulties, there is no way of settling the disputes. At Garabandal, the four visionaries, as if struck by amnesia, one after the other, retracted

195 AMOR MEUS, PONDUS MEUM their previous testimonies (from 1962 to 1966), in conformity with an announcement made by the Virgin that this was going to happen. At Medjugorje, a conflict based on a question of jurisdiction between the Franciscans and the bishop of Mostar sowed seeds of discord which had repercussions on the question of authenticity. Does the accomplishment of a prophecy annul the validity of a retraction, since this change of heart had been foretold? It has been said that this retractation symbolized both the present crisis of faith of today and the even worse irreligiosity of tomorrow. Why should a simple question of canonical competence, as in Medjugorje, compromise accessorily an intervention of Heaven? The distinctions which have to be made according to the diversity of circumstances are not sufficient to dispel the difficulties created for us mere mortals by heavenly interventions. It is as if there were a perfect symmetry between reasons for believing and motives for doubting. The weight on the scales that makes one lean on one side rather than the other is that of one's own heart. The alternative is then resolved according to one's own preference. This choice is decisive: "Amor meus, pondus meum." ("My love is what draws me on.") Blessed the man whose inclination agrees with that of God! It is from Him that the first impulse comes, to which it is always possible to say no. One is reminded of the Protestants of the first hour who imagined that by making a selection from among the sacraments and the dogmas, they would be making the best possible use of their freedom... Without committing quite so serious a mistake, the opponents of the authenticity of apparitions which bring about conversions or are followed by cures, enjoy the dismal privilege of having wanted to exorcise and banish in the name of abstract principles a supernatural event. They never seem to run out of arguments. And the "distinguo" is a fearsome instrument. There are many ways to "demystify" religion. And one of the most effective methods apparently is to "deconstruct" the event under study. There is an analogy here between the faith in the central mysteries of our religion and our belief in current wonders. "How can this man give us his flesh to eat," the Jews muttered, when Christ announced he would give his flesh as food to the world. Literalism has always been a mental aberration and a great temptation. But "Christ is patient and merciful," wrote . "Far from quarrelling with the unbelief of narrow minds, he offers them the vivifying knowledge of the mystery [of the 196 FAITH PRECEDES UNDERSTANDING Eucharist]... [And if] he does not explain how he will give... his flesh to eat,... he shows for their own benefit the good which is to follow from this food. Thus, by creating... the desire to live inthe prospect of eternal joys, he teaches... how to believe... [For when one] has believed, it follows naturally that one can also understand. As the prophet Isaiah said: 'If you do not believe, you will not understand' (7: 9). 128 They had to be first rooted in faith and then only afterwards infused with intelligence... " This mode of reasoning which applies to the truth of Revelation should serve as a reference for our trust in the authenticity of private revelations. Here also faith precedes understanding. Granted that the faith in question is not the theological virtue without which we cannot be saved, it is nonetheless a meritorious virtue, because it means surmounting prejudice, overcoming preconceived ideas, and often defying public opinion. The spiritual benefit of our encounter with Mary whom we see through the eyes of the visionaries comes as a result of our accepting our own limitations. We are respectful of the supernatural nature of the event which we cannot witness directly, but which we nonetheless have better grounds for believing than for doubting. Our reward will be that we are spiritually enriched and mysteriously enlightened. Without humility, there is no access to truth. As the Father of the Church of Alexandria writes: That is why... the Lord abstains judiciously from... saying how he will give his flesh to eat; he... invites to believe before one questions. The apostles had already believed when he broke the bread and gave it to them with the words: "Take and eat, for this is my body"... See how to the thoughtless who refuse to believe without questioning, he refuses to explain the nature of the mystery, but how he makes it clear to those who have already believed! 129

128 St. Cyril of Alexandria interprets Isaiah in a spiritual sense, for the original reads as follows: "If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established." 129 This does not mean that I am placing on the same level the act of faith due to Revealed Truth and the commitment to a place of apparitions. There are nonetheless troubling analogies between the demands placed on the disciples to accept the message of Christ and the requirements

197 APOLOGETICS OF MERCY Trust comes first, while enlightenment comes afterwards, just as the premise precedes the conclusion. The relationship between receptivity and acceptance is the same as that between cause and effect. It is the "little ones" who show up first at places of apparitions and who draw in their wake the sinners. They are without spiritual pride and thus serve as a reference for those whose soul is sick. The Virgin addresses the first ones as her children, and the second ones as the lost sheep. She too, as her divine Son, relies on what is weak to save what had been lost. Such is the lesson to be drawn from such places as Garabandal and Heroldsbach, where it is children who bring hardened sinners to tears of repentance. What a misfortune, when it is the authority, established through divine ordination, that seeks to render ineffective these apologetics of mercy!

essential to the reception of those graces which Mary grants to her devotees when she appears. In both cases, a spirit of humility is necessary. What is within the reach of children is beyond that of scholars, unless they are willing to learn from the former.

198 FOR WHOM ARE APPARITIONS? THIRTY FOUR PRO QUIBUS SUNT APPARITIONES?

t could be argued that it is ill-advised for practicing faithful to go to most contemporary places of apparitions, since such is usually the opinion of the responsible bishop... 130 ̶ 4 ̶ Contrariwise, and paradoxically, it should be no less advisable for non-practicing Catholics to go there, since this is where they become converted either in great numbers or at least in appreciable numbers. How can the latter be persuaded to go, however, when the former abstain from doing so, since it is by example and not by words that good influence is exerted? It might therefore be argued that even if one is a practicing Catholic, it is a good thing to go where others might be in far greater need than oneself. It would be entirely ineffectual to say, "Don't do as I do, do as I say." - "If this good Catholic does not feel the need to go to Medjugorje, why should I do so in his stead," will be the way the sinful soul will reason, who, since he is breaking one or another of the ten commandments of God or of the four commandments of the Church, is already walking on the wide path that leads to perdition. How great is the distress of those Christians whom the world, the flesh or pride have led to neglect their duties! Who will take care of the woman who has had an abortion, the husband who has divorced, the couple living in sin, and the drug-addict, if it is not the Virgin most pure, who is the last recourse of sinners?

130 It is not my intention to criticize those faithful who in this matter feel inclined to follow the advice of their bishop! My purpose is to clarify the debate by bringing to light the consequences of prudential decisions taken by the competent authorities or by the people involved. We are dealing here with specific cases. It is impossible to foresee all possible situations, beginning with the one where the bishop transgresses his

199 A PRIORI SUSPICION "But one is not sure that it is She!" is the customary retort. "Be reassured, if people get converted there, it is not the devil's doing." The empire of evil is far too homogeneous to war against itself, and the devil will not save Paul's soul the better to get at Peter's. The sons of perdition show, as regards their essential motivation, a far too great a degree of uniformity. If Satan and Lucifer 131 do not act in perfect collusion, how are we to explain their success (Mk 3: 22-26)? And what a remarkable spirit of cooperation there is among their followers on earth for the subversion of values! Luther would have wished the Turks to help him counter Rome. Even the very-christian king Louis XIV, oblivious of his mandate, readily agreed with the Ottomans to weaken his rival, the emperor of Austria. Thus the faithful, by contradicting their own convictions, sometimes share the logic of unbelievers. Could it sometimes be the same with the ministers of the Church? It would be simple-minded to assume that they are proof against temporal considerations, when they do all they can - at least indirectly - to prevent sinners from going where they might be converted. It is as if, on a short-term basis, it were preferable for the sinner to return to his vomit

own competence (a), to the one where the faithful by not listening to the judicious advice of their pastor run the risk of placing their trust in fraudulent prophets. It is necessary to stress the momentous significance of what is at stake, which is the salvation of souls, and to endeavour to counter the most manifest peril of our times, which is brought about by the a priori suspicion with which contemporary apparitions are approached. This bias is too widespread, as I have already shown, for more comment at this point. One of the most convincing arguments proposed to the sinning soul who is led, in spite of its objections, to a place of apparitions, is the healing of incurable diseases. As Dr. Alexis Carrel, during his visit at Lourdes, physicians are especially impressed by this kind of argument, which obliges them to overcome their rationalistic positivism. (a) As was the case in Laus in the XVIII th century, where the archbishop of Embrun who was a Jansenist wanted to arrest the visionary. She, however, properly warned by the Virgin, was dissuaded from going to Embrun, where she would have been at his mercy. 131 Satan and Lucifer are, according to Father Amorth, a Roman exorcist who speaks out of personal experience, two distinct infernal entities.

200 SOULS FALL INTO HELL UNNOTICED than for the theologian to risk being precipitate where discernment is difficult! When throws himself into the Seine, the splash may alert a passerby, and he will heroically plunge in and save the drowning man! But the snow in winter falls less softly than does a sinner's soul into hell. And who will worry over his fate, if no one has been made aware of it?

Ven. Benoîte Rencurel during an apparition of

201 MEDIATRIX

Our Lady of Lipa Mediatrix of All Grace In 2015 declared "supernatural in character and worthy of pious belief"

Teresita Castillo Visionary in Lipa, Batangas, Philippines, 1948

202 IN THE NAME OF ECUMENISM THIRTY FIVE IN NOMINE ŒCUMENISMI

t is simply a matter of priorities. Ecumenism is our great concern and our great ecclesiological project for the years to come. For the benefit of inter-confessional relations, it is suggested that Marian apparitions remain in the background. Protestants react allergically to wonders. Let us not introduce a further division between Christians when there is otherwise so much common ground. Our separated brethren will appreciate our reticence. Have they not made concessions of their own? We must meet them half-way. Furthermore, we should show our appreciation for the eloquent pages Luther wrote on Mary, whom he called "the meritorious servant," "the Virgin full of promise" and "the sweet Mother of God," 132 even though we know that his Church rejected the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. How do we expect Protestants to approve of apparitions where our Lady goes even further and lays a claim to the titles of Coredemptrix and Universal Mediatrix? An omission is not a negation, and in our ecumenical dialogue our silence on such questions should not only be a question of policy, but of charity. ̶ 4 ̶ Ecumenism, however, should not be one-sided. Moreover, our own Marian tradition is one of the most convincing arguments for a reconciliation with the schismatic Oriental Churches. As for the Protestant Churches, their rejection of the primacy of Peter is the main stumbling block, and the Virgin merely a side-issue. Nonetheless, Luther's influence, which has increased as a result of the present friendly inter-religious atmosphere, has exerted itself upon Catholics in a detrimental way even in Mariology. This is noticeable in the praxis of certain eminent personalities, especially in Germany where there is

132 This familiarity can be deemed praiseworthy, were it not for a certain noticeable tone of condescension. 203 "THE WORLD IS SEARCHING FOR MARY" a trend in favour of a rehabilitation of Luther, who is presented as a kind of Father-figure for modern theological speculation. The policy of integration of the evangelical standpoint on the part of Catholics is all the more widespread that it proceeds unobtrusively. It is seen as a policy of the lesser evil. But Marian devotion is not an accidental accessory of our belief in Providence, nor can it be reduced to mere pragmatic considerations. With Mary, we can achieve so much more! The tradition of Marian devotion belongs to is perennial, and it is in the garden of the Lord an ever-blooming flower. Mary was from the beginning the Mother of all Christians, and in our Catholic awareness this becomes truer as time goes by. The impulse of the Holy Ghost at work in souls receives from recent apparitions a new impetus. It would be inopportune to oppose these spiritual dynamics on the ground that they go against current trends of convergence amongst Christian denominations. Such a convergence cannot be promoted at the expense of "heavenly intents." 133 The designs of Providence are not meant to suit our time-bound priorities. On the contrary, we are called to docility before the demands of our Faith. The will of God is fulfilled in the accomplishment of His commands, even of those considered at times to be of lesser importance. Of this divine will, the Virgin is the expression. This conviction, nurtured by her own example, is most profitable when we listen to what she has to say. As long as the Gospel taught in a place of apparitions is not "other" than the one we know already, but more of an updating to suit present-day challenges, it can be safely repeated. We will find in the long run that it does not belie whatever is good, fruitful and valid in our own ecumenical attempt at more brotherliness. There is a truth concerning Mary as there is one concerning Jesus. And neither can profit from the neglect of the other. It would be a fatal mistake to think that to privilege the Son for reasons of historical opportunism, we should detract from the Mother the attributes she received from the hand of her divine Son. 134

133 "Pray for the reunion of the three Churches, because this belongs to the triumph of my Immaculate Heart": thus speaks the Virgin to the visionaries of Venezuela at Maracaibo, March 13, 1996. Jorg Müller: Warum erscheint Maria so oft (Mediatrix, St. Andra -Wordern , 1999, pp. 53-54). 134 "The Church must be one , but without giving in to or lending itself to compromises. The world is searching for Mary and Mary will save the world , if you listen to her and if you convert." Thus, the Virgin to Renato

204 MARY, OUR MOTHER

Baron at Schio, December 1985. As a convert from Lutheranism once said: "How could I have lived for so long without understanding that, if Jesus is my brother, then Mary is necessarily my Mother? " (Robert John Neuhaus in the work of Timothy Drake: There We Stood, Here We Stand: Timothy S. Drake, New York, 2001, vi.)

205 The Virgin of El Escorial in Spain

206 WHAT IS OLD IS PREFERABLE THIRTY SIX VETERA PRÆFERANDA SUNT

hy go to new and unrecognized places of apparitions when we have such grace-filled sites as Lourdes or Fatima? If it is safer to rely on hallowed traditions, it is unwary to waste one's time and run the risk of being deceived by unproven supernatural events. "Do these people realize that they may be unwittingly worshipping the devil," is the standard criticism leveled at crowds gathered at yet unauthenticated places of apparitions. Or at the very least: "How do they know that they are not being deluded?" They remind us of these spirited thoroughbreds darting ahead before the starting signal has been given. Since time will tell, why not await for its judgment? ̶ 4 ̶ What relativizes this objection is that in the early years of Fatima, the same motive had already been invoked: "It were better that they went to Lourdes!" Yet if the Virgin is appearing once again, is it not because she is needed once more and at this particular place? Why should we want to second-guess Providence? 135 The call for prayer and

135 Real devotion respects the choices of Heaven. One of the themes on which Mary insists is the place where she wants to be honoured. At El Escorial, Amparo, to whom the Virgin appeared at the Prado-Nuevo, was thrown off balance by the stubborn insistence of the mayor, who, out of sheer spitefulness, wanted to turn the field into a sports-arena. With tears in her eyes, she proposed to the Virgin: "There are other very beautiful properties..." But "Jesus and Mary are stubborn: 'I want to establish my abode at this place... this village needs Me...'" In other words, Marian devotion must express itself at the very spot which Mary has consecrated through her apparitions. The locus gratiae results from a providential decision: "Come to this place, do not be afraid... I have promised that whoever comes to this place will receive special graces." (November 6, 1993: Gabriel: Premier récit authentique des apparitions de l'Escorial, F.-X. de Guibert, Paris, 1996, p. 346) Christ, as was to be expected, is even more insistent than his Mother: "This place belongs to me, as the whole 207 A CHARISMATIC "COMPELLE INTRARE" penance of Fatima was substantially the same as that of Lourdes. But it was timed to forewarn of World War II and the Communist menace, and it brought with it a specific demand for the conversion of Russia. Heroldsbach in turn (1949-1952) coincided with the threat of aggression by the Communists in Europe, and especially in Germany, shortly before the start of the Korean war. Kibeho (1981-1985) in Rwanda - ten years before the genocide with its million victims expressed Heaven's concern for the only country in Africa with a Christian majority. And if we go back several centuries, how regrettable it is for France that Louis XIV did not acquiesce in the request of Christ, which had been transmitted earth ; and it is I who choose the place that I want." (L'Escorial: Messages 1992-1998: Association Vierge des Douleurs du Pré-Neuf de l'Escorial, F-64170 Artix, 1999, p. 63) God has dominion over space and time. If certain graces are "earmarked" for certain sites, should we not go there? Our dispatch will be rewarded. To waste time is to miss the suitable occasion. Why should sinners be more clever than the righteous? As the Virgin of Maracaïbo (Venezuela) remarked: "Very often, the children of darkness obey with more alacrity the prince of darkness than the children of light Him who is the Light." (Xavier Reyes-Ayral: Un Message d'Amour, Résiac, Montsûrs, 1997, p. 192) Devotees of places of apparitions are often criticized for being overbearing in their attempts at propaganda. While they want to be apostles of a good cause, their own inexperience, importunity or lack of tact may be more detrimental than helpful. One should not be swayed by appearances, however, since we are dealing here with a charismatic compelle intrare. In spite of their shortcomings, the purpose of these devotees is praiseworthy, since it is nothing else than an attempt to put into practice a request of the Madonna. She asks explicitly that we should invite all people to come to the site where she is showing herself This is, for instance, what she said in September 1967 to the pilgrims of San Damiano: "... I rely on your faithfulness, on your help to make me known and to affirm my Presence on earth.... Pray, act, endure all to have my Presence known amongst you... There is no time to lose. Get to work. Such is the task expected of all those who have heard my messages.... It is up to you to make the visionaries and my apparitions known and thus to make me triumph on earth... " This request was followed by a reprimand to the souls who have neglected their mission to spread the good news: "Many have forgotten me; their constancy has floundered in spite of all the graces that I have poured upon them... They

208 OUR MISSION IS TO INFORM to him by Margaret-Mary, to place the image of the Sacred Heart on the banners of his army! 136 If there is one point on which Heaven insists, again and again, it is that man place his trust in divine Providence! Yet, there will always be cause for scandal on the part of the well-meaning, the learned or the worldly, who measure by their own subjective yard-sticks the extension allowable for divine interventions. True devotion is respectful of the past. But the lesson of the past is in the answer to the question: "How many sinners are there today whose unbelief would prevent them from going to Lourdes or even Fatima!" Once they have taken the trouble to respond to the call of modern places of apparitions, however, they may well be overwhelmed by the charismatic atmosphere and fall to their knees at the nearest confessional. Thus it is miscreants today who show to lukewarm Christians the true road to Heaven, for Sunday Catholics have long since forgotten what their most necessary sacrament is. The Spirit bloweth where it will, and one can hardly establish scales of probability according to the place of apparitions visited! Curiosity concerning a contemporary event may be the determining reason in many a sinner's sudden interest in - shall we say - Medjugorje. But of those who become converted in good faith, is it not because God himself set it in motion? When He disposes the bids, it makes sense that He favours his have thought of other things, they have forgotten me and denied me." Not to share with others the benefits one has received oneself is a lack of charity and tantamount to a betrayal. If the author of the present book has written it, was it not to escape a similar reproach? The Virgin makes it clear that an omission is not without consequences: "Do not oblige me to abandon you!" Let us remember that our presence in these blessed places of apparitions entails an obligation, and that if "our mission is not necessarily to convince," it is nonetheless "to inform," according to the expression of André Castella, who adds: "If one person does not listen, let us address ourselves to others." (Stella Maris - December 2002, p. 29). 136 That Heaven should have taken sides in favour of Louis XIV by declaring that the enemies of this warlike monarch were also His own may seem astonishing. However, it was on this historical occasion that the "God of armies" wanted to show through a manifest sign that He is the master of events, of which the protagonists, whatever their shortcomings, remain, on whatever grounds, mere executants. 209 WHEN MODERNITY IS AN ASSET own choices. It may at first seem astonishing that the Virgin responds more generously to the prayers addressed to her in unproven places of apparitions such as Medjugorje or San Damiano than in Lourdes or La Salette. If antiquity confers an aura of authenticity, is it not present actuality which brings an assurance of a greater liberality of Heaven? Can one deny a fact of experience? It is inappropriate to complain. If we wish to speculate on the intentions of Providence, we must conclude that the Virgin Mary shows herself at the crossroads of history, when a decisive choice has to be made. Thus at Fatima in 1917, it was to warn humanity against choosing the path leading to World War II, at Heroldsbach in 1949, to reveal that the red dragon of communism can be vanquished by prayer, and at Garabandal in 1961, to let us know that "the end of times" is near - but not "the end of time"-, etc. If Laus in the French Alps, where Mary appeared for forty years in the XVIIth century, 137 is a holy place, it is nonetheless at Lourdes that she worked miracles in the XIXth century, and no longer at Laus. Can Lourdes be trumped? Today it is at Medjurgorje, and no longer at Lourdes, that young men, in significant numbers, hear the call to follow Christ. Are not vocations, conversions and cures, tell-tale signs? Should we not privilege the site where the Spirit bloweth hic et nunc? Let us be pragmatic when we are advised to be so! The best known parables are lessons in common sense, as shown by the "tales" of the "importunate friend," the "dishonest steward," the "unrighteous judge," or the "foolish rich man," the "talents," the "hidden treasure," the "good measure," the "treasure in heaven, " etc. If novelty is rewarded in matters of apparitions, should we show ourselves reticent? One may object that in relation to true values, modernity is not a token of quality! Assuredly, this applies when modernity is considered alone. But we are dealing here with a message from Heaven addressed to our times, in other words, one which contains, beyond the unchanging evangelical requests for prayer and penance, an advice concerning a clearly defined peril and the assurance of an appropriate help.

137 Many critics of present-day apparitions use the fact that they sometimes continue for years as an argument against their authenticity. A good counter-argument is that at Laus, three hundred years ago, they went on for forty years. On this topic, see chapter 45.

210 WHEN NOVELTY IS EXCELLENT If I wrote above that I could "hardly establish scales of probability according to the place visited," I am now about to state the opposite. Reflexion comes with time. It is difficult, however, to be affirmative in a sphere where individual choice is determined by a grace tailored to fit the needs of the person concerned. But the prejudice against novelty is so deeply ingrained in public opinion that it was necessary to underline the arbitrariness of a postulate taken as an established fact. "Living examples are the most convincing ones" is the conclusion which comes to the lips of the pilgrims who have attended apparitions and yet are criticized for going to Medjugorje, El Escorial, or Schio rather than to Lourdes. The Church, as we have seen, does not lack detractors of modernity in the name of tradition. History in the making, nonetheless, is more impressive than past accomplishments, and the young people who throng to the novitiates of new congregations rather than enter age-old institutions know they are making the better choice. If religious orders which used to be prestigious have espoused secular standards, they did so at the expense of those real values that are perennial. Thus, the last have become the first, precisely because they related to a past which was not their own, since they had none, but which belonged to those who have now become the last because they shrugged off their past as a set of old clothes! Without Lourdes or Laus being in any way invalidated, since their message is for all times and their Virgin is forever young, there are dynamics proper both to new congregations and to new sites of apparitions. "Go where the action is," is the motto for young businessmen and young Marian devotees! After these general considerations, let us hear what a pilgrim of Medjugorje, Mariajn Lubjic, has to say: This is what I thought during the apparitions: the Gospa,... (the Queen of Heaven, the Mother of my Saviour and my God)..., is present. She is there in body and soul, two meters from me, and on the second evening, only one meter away. I have not seen anything extraordinary, except the visionaries before me. In spite of my intention to describe what I experienced, especially on the third evening, I feel incapable of doing so. And yet, to know that the Gospa is there, has moved me and made such an impression on me that no power in the world could have brought me to doubt of her presence. What I then felt in my soul will remain forever graven in my memory. In the past, I had wished ardently to be able one day to come 211 WHEN MEDJUGORJE TRANSCENDS FATIMA to a site where the Gospa had appeared. And this dream... became true for me when I went several times to Banneux, Beauraing, Lourdes and Fatima. In all these wonderful places, and especially at Fatima, I lived unforgettable moments. But here in Medjugorje, all these pilgrimages are transcended as the heaven transcends the earth. There, I had walked on the traces which the Gospa left several years before. Here, she herself is present, alive and real! 138 Who would not have wanted to find himself at Lourdes, two feet from Bernadette? Well, a similar experience is within his reach in other places. "How many prophets have wanted to see what you are seeing!" Christ declared to the recalcitrant Jews, "And hear what you are hearing!" All things being equal, and since we were not there in the days of Christ or of Bernadette, a great favour is being granted to us in our times. It is a favour almost without precedent in the history of the Church by its availability and from which it would be a mistake not to want to profit... When St. John Eudes wished to introduce the liturgical feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in his Institute, this novelty did not appeal to some tradition-bound religious souls. But the great Saint retorted that "if novelty is most pernicious in dogmatic matters, it is most excellent in matters of piety." Modernity is not a value in itself, but it has an appeal which, properly exercised, as in the case at hand, can prove strong enough to overcome prejudice, bring the lost sheep back to the fold and rekindle the faith of the lukewarm. It belongs to holiness that it be forever new, since it is the answer which an "alter Christus" is giving to the problems of the hour. Providence called upon St. Ignatius to counter the Reformation with the very instruments of modernity which this subversion had utilized, more especially the printing-press. Similarly, the calling of St. Francis-Xavier was born of the distress of the newly discovered heathen lands which the caravels could reach for the first time. Contemporary Marian apparitions are no less appropriate, since they address a precise need of the Church and humanity of today, or of the proximate future. It is precisely when

138 Marijan Ljubic: La Vierge apparaît en Yougoslavie (Medjugorje), Ed. du Parvis, Hauteville , Suisse, 1984, pp. 90-91.

212 THE PAST DOES NOT DENOUNCE THE PRESENT the decisions of Rome were contested by the Princes of the German Church in the name of diversity, that the Virgin of Marpingen sang the praise of John Paul 11... 139 A parallel is suitable to mention at this point, even if it evokes one of the most severe condemnations of false piety. It is that of Christ rebuking the Pharisees for rendering a cult to the memory of the prophets. He castigates them, astonishingly enough, for building tombs and adorning "monuments to the righteous." Can He find fault with an activity which fosters messianic aspirations? Yet he is in no way grateful for such projects. Instead they justify his scorn and clearly establish the Pharisees' direct link to the murderers of the Prophets. Their very devotion speaks out against them, since it serves as a screen and a pretext for their homicidal thoughts against Him whom the prophets were announcing. To lean on the past to denounce in the present what this past was preparing for is a circular way of thinking which is more widespread than one usually realizes, even if it be in as benign a way as that of those who criticize Medjugorje in the name of Lourdes. Lourdes had implicitly announced Medjugorje and should have prepared us for it through the very mysterious but necessary complementarity between what is of today and what, of similar nature, preceded it historically. Or, perhaps it would have been more appropriate to mention here the mountain of La Salette rather than the grotto of Massabielle, since the Virgin in tears whom Melanie saw confided to her an eschatological message. Just as generations are related, there is a link of spiritual solidarity between sites of apparitions separated in time and space. The object of our devotions, the Blessed Virgin Mary, renews her visits whenever her wards are in danger, so that, by invoking her, we may be delivered from our immediate perils. In these matters, as in music, timing is all, and delays entail a risk.

139 And not only in Marpingen, but also recently in El Escorial, where our Lord speaking to Luz Amparo, described John Paul II, as "this man of sacrifice," "indefatigable,... full of the wisdom of the Holy Ghost," and who has dedicated his whole life "for the unity of Christians and for the good of the Church." "And let no one be astonished," added Christ, "if I say that he is the most holy man now threading the earth." (Message of May 5, 2001, in Stella Maris of October 2001 , p. 5). "Il Santo subito" of today was already recognizable as such during his life.

213 214 WHAT IS INVISIBLE IS PREFERABLE THIRTY SEVEN INVISIBILIA PRÆFERANDA SUNT

nvisible realities are preferable, at least when one compares them to visible ones: "I would not go out of my way to see a miracle," a priest said once, "but I would walk miles to witness a conversion." The operations of grace are so very much superior to wonders which we perceive through our senses that the latter can be considered negligible. Christ at Jacob's well said to the woman of Samaria: "If you knew the gift of God," to make her understand that water is an image for what is spiritual. The kingdom of God remains for the time being unseen. How can we place our trust in what is merely an object of experience? ̶ 4 ̶ To discredit miracles as such is a well-established bias in many circles. Should we, however, to placate them, hide beneath the proverbial bushel the gifts which God showers upon us in his bounty? It would seem so, if we consider the policy followed in Padre Pio's case, when he was forbidden any apostolate for ten years (I923-1933), while he remained for the rest of his life deprived of the right to preach or to write - the most eloquent of apostles reduced to silence! Is it astonishing then, if so many visionaries of the Virgin have suffered from arbitrary rulings? These rulings were eventually mitigated for most of them, since they are lay-people, and because of the greater freedom of expression granted to the faithful since Vatican II. They are nonetheless symptomatic of an almost Jansenistic detraction of what falls under the senses in favour of what is of the spirit. "You should hate your talent for poetry," Mother Angélique Arnauld told the sister of the great philosopher, Blaise Pascal, Sister Jacqueline Pascal who could write verse as readily as other people breathe. This disavowal of a natural talent is similar to that of supernatural charisms whose insuperable drawback is that they are obvious. ''Angelism" is a more widespread condition than is usually imagined. The same applies to the misappreciation, in the evangelical parable, of those "talents" which we

215 VISIBILIA ARE VITAL are expressly asked not to hide "in the earth." Soviet Russia, with its ruthless policy of muzzling poets is a case in point. As Solzhenitsyn points out, a whole nation had to suffer in its esthetic sensitivity and in its capacity to enjoy the beauties of the language. Similarly, if one gags the Virgin in the person of her messengers, what a loss for the spirit of faith and of devotion, be it in a village, a country, or a whole nation! And what ensuing perils for the salvation of souls! In both cases the deficit, cultural or spiritual, is considerable. Christianity is not a religion centered on the silence of God, as some people seem to think, who would rather relegate Him to the distant heavens. The presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the sign of this intimacy with the whole world which our God seeks to establish after his apparent estrangement from all nations outside Israel between the Fall and the Incarnation. The lives of the Saints have accustomed us to this relation of familiarity which seems proper to the mystical state. If the "invisibilia" are superior in dignity, since they have to do with that "spring of water welling up to eternal life" (Jn 4: 14) which is grace, the "visibilia" are indispensable for faith. "Per clarum ad obscurius" ("[Thought proceeds] from what is clear to what is more obscure"). Every belief is grounded in testimony. But the testimony is believable only insofar as it is confirmed by miracles, at least originally. It was so in the time of Christ and his apostles,140 and it has been the same throughout the history of the Church. What would have been the ministry of the Curé d'Ars without his gift of reading souls? Marvels are endowed with an intrinsic efficacity. If the supra-human heroism of virtue works wonders in the long-term, miracles are more immediately effective. What would have become of Lourdes without the supernatural

140 " ... the works which the Father has granted me to accomplish, these very works which I am doing, bear me witness that the Father sent me" (Jn 5: 36). Would it be inappropriate to place these words of Christ in the mouth of the Virgin, whose appearances are accompanied by signs that "bear her witness" and prove that it is the Son who sent her? No one doubts that it is better to believe without having seen, since Christ chided Thomas on this subject, but all things considered, God, having chosen to reveal Himself to humanity, has used wonders as his trademark, not miracles indiscriminately lavished, but wonders whose moral content is in itself and in turn sign and proof of divinity.

216 MED]UGOR]E, MANDURIA, SCHIO properties of its water? In the same way, the "visibilia" of places of apparition are indisputable.141 To begin with, the "dance of the sun" at Fatima, which no

141 They are also an integral part of Marian pedagogy addressed to the crowds to whom it is granted, either for all those present, as in Fatima or at Heroldsbach, or for a significant number of them, as in most places of apparitions, to benefit, at rare privileged moments, from manifest and undeniable signs. Such was at Medjugorje "the word 'MIR' (peace) written in big letters of fire in the evening, above the cross of concrete, on mount Kricevac," or the cross itself "that turned, more or less fast, in all directions, a white light hiding it, then, as it dissipated, leaving the place to the Gospa, and this was seen by hundreds, or even thousands of people. A woman reports she has already seen the Virgin fifteen times." This happened with frequency until January 1982... Questioned by the visionaries, the Gospa (the Virgin) answered: "These are premonitory signs for those who do not believe. The great sign will come later, soon, very soon." (Marijan Ljubic: La Vierge Marie apparaît en Yougoslavie (Medjugorje; Ed. du Parvis, CH-1631 Hauteville, 1984 (?), pp. 33-34). At Manduria also the words of the Gospel are verified: "There will be signs in the sun... " (Lk 21:25). As the Virgin said: "My beloved, it is written that there will be signs in the sun, the moon and the earth. Here, I have wanted that they be realized... " "On March 20, 1993, at the chapel of the Virgin of Sorrow, the sun turns on itself, passing from one colour to the next... and close to the sun one can see the brilliant silhouette of a woman with outstretched arms. All recognize the Virgin." "On March 24, the same phenomenon of the sun which, in spinning, has taken successively the colours rose, blue and rose, and then has transformed itself into a huge luminous host" before "several witnesses." "On March 29, while Debora goes through the sufferings of the Passion at home, people, at the chapel of the Virgin of Sorrows observe during the prayer of the rosary, that the center of the sun has become blue with a rose halo. It starts to beat like a heart for three minutes." ''Another time, 'Debora, daughter of God,' is written in the sky."(Cf. supra: Manduria, pp. 59-60) At Schio, all pilgrims are soon familiar with the perfume of the Rosa Mystica which spreads out in fragrant waves on all those present during the apparitions, or which greets the isolated pilgrim when he least expects it. Such is the rose fragrance that a simple rough-hewn wooden cross exhales permanently in a whole wing of the chapel. The visionary 217 SCHIO, OSTINA, BETANIA one in the crowd that witnessed it ever doubted, not even the agnostics who were present, but whose significance was recognized by the competent authorities only after a delay of thirteen years. What an astonishing conformity to this dichotomous model in the places of apparitions that followed! Though the experience of such events is convincing per se, it becomes an object of speculation for the theological recluse in his study,

Renato Baron was even falsely accused of fraud, of having doused the cross with an Yves Saint-Laurent perfume. However, under court-order, a fragment of the wood of the cross, submitted to a rigorous chemical investigation, defied all attempts to explain the reason for its fragrance. It was left in alcohol for months, hosed down with water, without losing its odoriferous properties. No explanation could be found. I myself, when I arrived at the end of December in the evening in front of the chapel of the first apparitions, was surprised by the exquisite scent exhaled from a flowerless rose-bush at the angle of the tower. On the next day, when the members of my family perceived the same phenomenon in other places, they told me: "Last night, when you came back to the hotel where we were waiting for you, you brought back the same mysterious fragrance in the folds of your coat." Those who visited San Damiano in the days of Mamma Rosa recall that visible signs seemed almost something to be expected. Was it not the same in the past for the companions of St. Anthony of Padoua or St. Gerard Majella, for whom miracles were customary occurrences? Why should the Madonna herself be less generous in her display of visible signs of the supernatural? At Ostina/Valdarno, in the diocese of Fiesole, south of , a lady who had already been there six times during the apparitions (the fourth Sunday of even months, after five o'clock pm) told me of having seen three times "the dance of the sun": rotation on its axis, colour-change in the register yellow-gold-red, visible rays, and as of a beating heart. Betania (village of Cua, State of Miranda, Venezuela) presents the great advantage of having been"officially recognized" by the bishop, who declared on November 21, 1987 that, according to his judgment, "these apparitions are authentic and have a supernatural character." What is astonishing is that, contrary to common practice, he did not wait for the apparitions to have ceased before taking this official step. "This official recognition is a novelty," wrote Father René Laurentin, "since no other apparition had for a half-century been thus authenticated." (Multiplication 218 "And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun," (Ap 12:1) As seen at Heroldsbach according to the painting by W. Fiedler who left out the crowd

219 HEROLDSBACH, BETANIA who can never share the viewpoint of the man who was there when the Virgin appeared. Think of Heroldsbach, where 10,000 pilgrims watched the "dance of the sun" and where on another day, 70,000 people saw a mysterious glow, golden and fluid, floating over the ground. During the first wonder, the eight little visionary girls, plus some members of the crowd, beheld the Virgin in the sun, where she stood, like the "woman clothed with the sun" of the Apocalypse. These events were, however, to become the stumbling-block on which many hopes were shattered, because the visionaries, once older, were excommunicated for eighteen years for refusing to deny under oath the reality of the apparitions. It was a most unexpected sanction in light of the innocuousness of the

des apparitions de la Vierge aujourd'hui: Fayard, Paris, 1995, pp. 51-54). The visionary, the mother of a large family, Maria Esperanza, enjoys many charisms ("clairvoyance, visions of the future, levitations, transfigurations, stigmatisation, gift of healing,"etc.). Furthermore, more than a thousand persons of all social classes ̶ poor people, young people, students, "policemen and military men, doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists, engineers and lawyers" ̶ testify that they enjoyed "sporadic apparitions" of the Virgin in the site where conversions and "extraordinary physical cures" take place. These apparitions started in 1976. They were still going on in 1988. I do not know when they ceased. The visionary died in 2001. Studied from a phenomenological viewpoint, among contemporary Marian apparitions there are three especially exceptional cases: (1) Betania of Cua for the reason mentioned above, with the prompt "authentication'' on the part of the bishop; (2) Heroldsbach (1949-1952), because of the excommunication imposed on the visionaries by the bishop, as a result of their refusing to retract that they had seen the Virgin; (3) El Escorial (1980- 2002), because of the physical violence exercised on the visionary and her family. Amparo had been the object of an attempted rape by three assailants who denuded her and wounded her, and from which she was only rescued at the last minute. On another occasion, her husband, already middle-aged, was beaten up. As for her sixth child, her son Jesus, he lost his life in an assassination disguised as a drug-overdose, the door having been locked from the outside.

220 WHEN STATUES WEEP messages received, which were appeals to prayer against the perils of communist expansion. The reason given for these disciplinary measures was that a "new Fatima" was undesirable in Bavaria, as if the similarity of themes and signs were grounds enough for invalidating three years (Oct.9, 1949 - Oct. 31, 1952) of apparitions! No one would challenge a scale of values which places the workings of grace above all visible miracles. Yet it must be admitted that Heaven is heaping plenty of astonishing data at the doorstep of sceptics nowadays, Madonnas weeping human tears or tears of blood,142 holy images exuding sweet-smelling oil or endowed with curative virtues, 143 a luminous cross in the sky such as used to be registered

142 Sometimes as the silent expression of the sadness of God, as in Civitavecchia; or as the confirmation of apparitions or messages, as in Naju , in Korea, Akita in Japan, and Damas in Syria. 143 As in Manduria in southern Italy (Puglio). From the end of 1993 and 1997, there have been 347 lachrymations of blood from the big statue of the Madonna, and 92 from the crucifix exposed in the chapel. Furthermore, there were 18 lachrymations of oil from the crucifix and 22 from the statue of the Madonna, this oil has more than once shown its prodigious therapeutic properties. One has also recorded 100 lachrymations of oil, and 18 of blood, from an image of the Madonna of the Olive-tree. On an image of Jesus, 42 lachrymations of blood and 100 lachrymations of oil have been noticed.The big statue of the Madonna and the crucifix have shed, several times, human tears (according to the results of analyses). Laboratory analyses have established that the blood shed "is human blood of the AB group, warm, that coagulates" in contact with the atmosphere." (Christian Parmantier-André Castella: Manduria; Ed. du Parvis, Hauteville (Suisse), 1999, pp. 57-58) As is to be expected, this AB group is a constant in all the miracles of the Holy Blood: eucharistic miracles of Lanciano and elsewhere, or bloody effusions of statues or images of Christ or of the Virgin. The same observation applies to the Holy Shroud of Torino. It was the same at Alborello, in the south of ltaly, where images of Jesus and Mary began to emit blood, within one year of one another, on May 3, 2003 and May 17, 2004, respectively. But what is novel is the initiative taken by their owner, Father Pietro Chiriatti, for he sent samples of this blood to the Laboratory of Genetics of the University of Bologna for an analysis 221 Statue of the Virgin of Medjugorje weeping tears of blood at Civitavecchia

222 THE DNA OF CHRIST on photos at San Damiano, the sun pulsating as a heart or turning into iridescent colours and rotating during apparitions in various places, the scent of roses wafting in the air in midwinter at Schio, the cross on the mountain of Krizevac at Medjugorje seemingly turning on its axis, etc... Sometimes these extraordinary happenings are witnessed by all bystanders, sometimes they are only perceived by a privileged few. As for the visionaries, they are often endowed with extraordinary charisms, such as being sustained without food and drink for weeks or months on end as in Kibeho or San Nicolas (Argentina), stigmata as in El Escorial or Manduria, mind-reading or prophecies as in Garabandal, or Amsterdam, etc.... No less impressive are the miraculous cures. They have resulted, for instance, in many conversions among the physicians whose patients came back healed from San Damiano. In Parisian hospitals, when an

of the DNA. Here is the answer which he received: "This blood is so rare that it must be considered as almost one of a kind. The statistical probability of finding, in thousands of years, an analogical blood typology is practically nil: a probability of 1 to 200 billions of possible cases." In fact, "the configuration of genetic features found in the Y-chromosome does not correspond to any of the configurations present in the bank of world data where are assembled the data of 22,000 male subjects proceeding from 187 different populations... " The comment of one of the researchers of this laboratory seems appropriate: "It is real human blood, but it seems to come from another world." For the reader of Maria Valtorta, this information provides a confirmation. Did she not announce that one day one would find on the Holy Shroud the proof of the Divinity of Christ? If in the present case, we are dealing with another artefact, could we not deduce from the previous proceedings that an analysis of the blood from the Holy Shroud should give the same result? Furthermore, should one be astonished that it is male blood that is oozing from effigies of the Virgin, such as the Madonn a of Civicavecchia (Italy) and of Naju (South Korea). Since the Virgin in her days did not spill her own blood, it is the blood of the Son whom she sacrificed for us that she is weeping in her abundant tears today (Cf. Renzo Allegri: "Lacrymation de sang, à Alborello dans les Pouilles" (south Italy), Stella Maris (Hauteville, Suisse), avril 2005, p. 9).

223 "HOW I DO HATE DOUBTERS OF MIRACLES" incurable patient shows up without any of -tale symptoms of his illness, the first comment of the practicing physician is, "You must have been to Medjugorje!" As already mentioned in chapter 21, the most extraordinary wonder of all took place at Vaddiakadu in Kerala (India), where, according to no less an authority than Father Laurentin who researched the case soon after the event, a baby dead at birth and buried for six months, came back to life. "How I do hate doubters of miracles," wrote Pascal (Pensées, Brunschvicg, 813) in a sentence which calls to mind the following text: Men despise religion; they hate it, and fear that it be true. To redress this bias, one should begin by showing that religion is not contrary to reason; that it is venerable, and worthy of respect, and then that one should see it as lovable, make the good people hope that it be true; and then show that it is true (Brunschvicg 187). If it is high time that free-thinkers overcome their dread of religion, it is no less urgent that sceptics of all kinds, some of whom may otherwise be believers, should master their apprehension of religious wonders. The preceding Pascalian pensée could thus be rewritten in the following way: Men despise wonders; they hate them, and they fear that they may be true. To cure this apprehension, one should begin by showing that wonders are not contrary to reason; that they are venerable, and worthy of respect, and that one should see them as desirable, and make the good people wish that they were true; and then show that they do really take place. Because in his heart and almost despite himself, since it hurts his feeling of self-reliance, man needs wonders. On the one hand, he is suspicious of what is beyond reason, and on the other he cannot do without the hope that miracles can happen. Furthermore, God does not undervalue in man this longing for whatever comes from above. He responds to it, as Christ did, with his instantaneous cures of the halt, the sick and the blind. For the benefit of his apostles, he manifested his dominion over the wind and waves and over death itself. Furthermore, he endowed his followers with similar powers. If man is of good will, God will grant him a full measure of such supernatural gifts. Miracles, however, are gratuitous. He who searches for them, in the usual order of things, will not enjoy them. But to those who answer his

224 "MAN LOVES AS HE SEES" call God is generous. What does Christ propose in his Gospel -"where charisms and signs... take up one quarter of the text" 144 - if not the good use of wonders? And what does he grant his apostles, either during his sojourn on earth, or after his resurrection, if not the gift of miracles? Let us no be astonished, therefore, if "charisms and signs" are so plentiful when our Lady appears! Thus does Heaven graciously condescend to satisfy requests. But mostly those people who least expect it will be gratified. They may even, for a short space of time, share the seers' vision. Doubtless, the most cogent argument of all is "the sign of Jonas, the passage from spiritual death to resurrection, from the darkness of sin to the light of love". If conversions are the decisive proof, they result, according to those who were inwardly changed, from those visibilia so often decried by experts. 145 As Saint Angela of Foligno put it, "Man... loves as he sees." Or again: "The more man sees, the more he loves." This testimonial of a soul gifted by mystical insight should suffice to convince us that "private revelations" are today the most readily available way leading to faith in "Revelation" itself 146 One of the current mistakes in apologetics is to minimize the importance of miracles. For what is faith but the belief in a supreme supernatural order of things? And what is a miracle but the manifestation of that order? A Christian takes for granted that what is supernatural is more real than what is natural, and if he is a saint, he lives accordingly. He knows that an ounce of charity is worth more than a ton of natural inclinations, the ideal being that the former will infuse the latter. All begins, however, with faith. Yet this gift of God is poured into the weak vessel of our all-too-human heart. What a solace it is for the fallible, earth-bound creatures that we are to receive the benefit of a personal confirmation of

144 Cf. Franz Speckbacher: Erscheinigungen in Heroldsbach (Mediatrix Verlag, A-3423 St Andrä-Wördern). 145 J. B. Manceaux: Dozulé: Nouvelles Editions Latines, Paris, 1983; p. 141. 146 Vide Patrick du Laubier in Stella Maris (Switzerland), January 2003, p. 3.

225 "1F THOU DIDST KNOW THE GIFT OF GOD ... " our relation to heavenly realities! It is the purpose of miracles to ground on experience what all too often is exposed, in our questioning minds, to the perils of present-day rationalism. God offers us, therefore, with apparitions of the Virgin a remedy commensurate to our needs. What a folly to treat this attempted cure of our weakness with a contemptuous shrug: "I do not need to go there!" But Christ answers us: "If thou didst know the gift of God, and who it is [who invites thee there], thou, perhaps, wouldst" have answered otherwise. As the Samaritan woman, converted by the words of Christ reading into her past, we will receive what we did not expect, but unavoidably what we needed - be it, occasionally, the experience of wonders. If one miracle is enough for the cure of the cripple and the blind, one visible nudge from Heaven is all a Christian with an open mind needs to answer a call for his own spiritual improvement. That is why it is most inappropriate to reproach visionaries for taking into account what they have seen and heard, since this is precisely their God-given calling. One thing is the vocation of the Carthusian monk cloistered in his silence (and most mystics have tried to keep hidden the "secrets of the King"); another thing is the function and purpose proper to him who, like the shepherd in the Old Testament called "from behind his flock" to fulfill a prophetic mission, is chosen to bear a message from Heaven. Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, for example, appeared to Therese Neumann, who relived in her flesh the Passion of Christ and neither ate nor drank, to reveal to her that her function was to be "a living and providential witness of supernatural realities." 147

147 Albert Paul Schimberg: The Story of Therese Neumann (Roger A. Mc Caffrey Pub., Ridgefield (USA), 1947, p. 22. Is not the ecstatic condition of the visionaries a wonder in itself? At Garabandal, when in ecstasy, the little girls "weighed so heavily" that two men could not lift them up, while they themselves, without the slightest effort, could lift each other up, for instance, to reach the Virgin Mary Jacques Serre-Béatric Caux, Garabandal (F. X. de Guibert, Paris, 1996, p. 58). Wonders have a meaning, and then we call them "signs." At St. Nicolas, in Argentina, Gladys Quiroga de Motta went without food for a month, from November 1st to December 1st, 1983, without any ill effects. Similarly, during the 40 days of Lent, at Kibeho, in Rwanda, a child and an adolescent, Sagatasha and Nathalie, answered the doctors who 226 LUTHER WAS SUSPICIOUS OF WONDERS Miracles incorporate the invisible into the material substratum without which they could not be perceived. In the same way, when the Virgin appears the supernatural overwhelms the natural order and confounds the sceptics.This is not a lack of discretion, since it is Providence that is at work, of whom the visionaries are merely the mouthpiece. To be suspicious of wonders is an attitude which many Protestant churches, particularly the Lutheran church, develop and foster in their faithful. But it was not always so. Luther, if we consult his Tischreden, readily believed in old wives' tales. But the rationalism which he introduced into theology, doubtless without his being aware of it, was to overcome, as centuries went by, the belief in miracles. All the more so since miracles, once devotion to the saints and monasticism had been abolished, were no longer considered worthy of being investigated. 148 wanted them to interrupt their total fast (without water): "Our Lady asked us to do so, it is she whom we should obey," and their good health remained unimpaired, even when, at the end of their fasting, they started eating again, without transition." (René Laurentin: Un appel de Marie en Argentine (O.E.I.L., Paris, 1990, pp. 37-39) 148 Had not Luther declared that man had been totally corrupted by original sin? This conviction that humanity, as a result, is ontologically perverse has theological consequences which affect Luther's conception of the Man-God. If good works are so useless for man's salvation that he can only be saved by faith alone, then should evangelical preaching alone be assumed to be supernaturally efficacious? In the preface of his translation of the New Testament in 1522, Luther wrote: "The good works [of Christ] are of no help to me, but it is his words that are bearers of life, as he said himself." As a result, the Pope of Wittenberg depreciated the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke in favour of that of St. John, and in favour of the epistles of St. Paul and St. Peter, since the latter emphasize the doctrinal content of the Messiah's teaching, at the expense of his deeds, gestures and miracles. This devaluation of miracles considered as signs of the supernatural, this disavowal of their apologetical utility, this depreciation of their necessity, are so many characteristic traits of Lutheranism which, to this day, have influenced many Catholics who are totally unaware that they are thus sharing a typically Protestant prejudice. (Cf. on this doctrine of Luther, professor Erik Mørstad's article: "Die Inkarnation beseitigt": Die Tagespost, Nov. 2002, Nr. 132/Nr. 44, p. 19).

227 MAN'S NEED FOR MIRACLES They were even no longer seen as intrinsic to the contents of the good news proclaimed by the Gospel. What is supernatural was deemed to be of a spiritual order, as if it were some form of abstraction. Furthermore, it belonged to the past, as did miracle-workers like St. or St. . For the Lutheran or the Calvinist, Christ does not delegate his powers to the men he has called to holiness. This conviction, after a while, nurtured a scepticism towards the authenticity of the signs and prodigies of which the Gospels are full. A Bultmannian state of mind pervades present-day Protestantism. A wariness set in and a critical frame of reference, in countries with a Lutheran, Calvinist or Anglican majority has infiltrated unsuspecting Catholics. This is no doubt the reason why in Germany apparitions are treated with "benign neglect" by the responsible authorities. Even in the USA, so many of the practicing faithful are convinced that wonders are more of a hindrance than a help. 149 But the Virgin, thanks to God, remains unshaken by our prejudices. She shows herself even in countries where public opinion will be unfavourable, or in dioceses whose bishops will

149 I am not speaking here of the soul who expects wonders as his due, but of the pilgrims who come to a place of apparitions in a true spirit of devotion, nourishing the hope that they will benefit from a grace, a sign in response to their trust, that will help them overcome whatever spiritual lacks they are affiicted with, or even rescue them from a life of sin. Participation in collective prayer brings with it astonishing benefits, of which the most manifest are conversions. Heaven distributes its gifts as unexpected bounties, such as callings to the priesthood. It would be inappropriate to conceal what is common knowledge in places of apparitions, such as derogations of the laws of nature occurring when least expected, sometimes in so discrete a way that one wonders if those wafts of rose scent in midwinter are imaginary or real, and sometimes in so manifest a way as when the sun starts rotating or beating like a heart, that it is impossible to deny the supernatural character of what one is witnessing. It would therefore be a mistake to distrust signs, since our Lord placed such emphasis on them that he chides the crowd whom he has nourished through a miracle for depreciating it in favour of their surfeit, and for preferring mere bread to the supersubstantial food of which it is the symbol. "You are seeking me, not because you have seen signs, but because you have eaten bread and have been satiated" (Jn 6: 26). 228 A "CONCILIATIO OPPOSITORUM" not welcome her visit. Let us pray that this bias will be surmounted in time and that whoever is reluctant will realize that there is as much joy in responding to Mary's call as there is in a small child lost in a crowd upon sighting his mother again. Man is truly in need of miracles. The proof is that today God heaps a full measure of them, as it were, if not in his very lap, or in his immediate vicinity, at least at an accessible distance... This ability to work wonders, we are told, is proportionate to Faith. 150

150 This should not mean that the slightest gesture of charity, the glass of water handed to the thirsty, is not of greater value than an act of faith. Nonetheless, it is true that a grain of faith of the size of a mustard-seed should suffice to "plant a sycamore-tree in the middle of the sea" (Lk 17: 6)... What must be stressed is that, according to God's design, faith is the royal road, following on which, charity accedes to our ecclesiastical Jerusalem. Let us be reminded, however, that the portal thus raised at the Holy City's entrance is not the work of human hands. Non sunt sancti qui miracula faciunt sed qui Deum diligunt. (It is not those who perform miracles that are saints but those who love God). Another paradox is made obvious. It is the private revelation, which does not involve the supernatural virtue of faith, which nonetheless and de facto, while remaining private, confers a steadfast foundation to faith in Public Revelation. Admirable contrariety of the supernatural in which no inconsistency is found through a marvelous conciliatio oppositorum. One of the cherished fallacies of our times is that public Revelation, having come to an end with the death of the last apostle, God cannot communicate with his Church through the ministry of chosen souls. Without doubt, the authenticity of these communications is not de fide. But that they may be a determining factor for the salvation of many, that is what should absolutely be affirmed. But is anyone aware of this fact today? There is no better collaboration with God than that which He proposes in person. In matters of salvation, the initiative is His. It is He who calls, He who anticipates, He who requests, He who decides. Let us not second-guess Providence. True receptivity consists in answering the call of the Holy Ghost. Only too often, one speaks of wonders as if, when they occur, according to the Shakespearian expression, "nature [were] out of joint." This is a

229 NO FOLLOW-THROUGH The Gospel teaches us a lesson both on the ways of Providence and on the aberrations of human conduct. When the wise men came from the East, in their quest of "he who has been born king of the Jews," "Herod... was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him," (Mt 2: 2) a significant perturbation on the part of a people awaiting the Messiah. The passionate interest awakened at the announcement of this news was followed almost immediately by indifference, since no one, from the monarch to the lesser gentry, nor even the Scriptural experts that had been consulted, took the trouble to accompany or precede the wise men to a village less than three leagues away. What is surprising causes a sensation, but what is unexpected is soon forgotten.

deplorable state of affairs. Quite the opposite is true. It would be more appropriate to say chat they are a glimpse into the prelapsarian order of things, when harmony reigned supreme, and matter was submissive to spirit. The rejection of wonders is an attenuated form of the rejection of the supernatural. As history shows, the one leads logically to the other, as a stream to the river.

230 IT IS UNBELIEVABLE THAT THE VIRGIN CAN BE TOUCHED THIRTY EIGHT VIRGINEM TACTILEM ESSE NON EST CREDENDUM

id not Christ say to Mary Magdalen after his Resurrection: "Do not touch me?" The holiness of God and of his Mother are better expressed in a vision, which implies a certain distance, than in physical contact. That is why at Lourdes, the Mother of God remained in her Grotto, high above ground. ̶ 4 ̶ Nonetheless, in many cases, the visionary can come so close to the Mother of God as to feel the warmth of her physical presence. Catherine Labouré, in the chapel of the Rue du Bac, describes how at the sight of the Madonna, she jumped up on the stairs and "knelt down with [her] hands on the knees of the Holy Virgin." One of the best documented cases is that of the Île-Bouchard. During the week of the apparitions (December 8-14, 1947), the four young visionaries came into tactile contact with Our Lady every day. [On December 8], the apparition bids them to approach her with a beckoning sign of her index finger, then she lowers her arm, "with an open palm," and says: "Give me your hand to kiss." Jacqueline Aubry approaches first, and raising herself up on tip- toes, she "places the extremity of the fingers of her right hand on the open index of the Virgin," who, in turn, leans forwards "very slowly," and kisses the fingers of Jacqueline. Her three companions come next. But Laura and Jeanne are too small! Jacqueline lifts them up with arms outstretched without the slightest effort. Mysteriously this phenomenon of elevation repeated itself on the following days, before the amazed bystanders. On leaving the church of St. Gilles on this December 8th, the fingers of the little girls carried a kind of "luminous oval", on the very spot where Mary had placed her lips.

231 L'ÎLE-BOUCHARD

Jacqueline Aubry, Nicole Robin. Laura Croizon, Jeanette Aubry

232 ASSUMPTA EST MARIA In 1951, Ida Peerdeman, the visionary of Amsterdam, said that she really had been given the ability to feel "the contour of her person." At Medjugorje, several of the visionaries affirm that they touched the body of the Virgin or her clothes. "152 And a few visionaries, such as the great mystic, Yvonne-Aimée de Malestroit, have enjoyed the privilege of receiving the Infant Jesus from the hands of His Mother into their own arms. Did not the resurrected Christ ask his Apostles to touch him to prevent them from thinking he was a ghost? The resiliency of matter is retained even when it has been resurrected and enjoys new heavenly- given attributes.

152 Patrick Sbalchiero: "Quand le ciel se laisse toucher" (Chrétiens magazine: mai 2006, pp. 19~20).

233 Miraculous healing of Catherine Vial at Laus

234 ARE MIRACLES BELIEVABLE? THIRTY NINE SUNT MIRACULA CREDENDA?

he miracles performed by Christ and the apostles enjoy a special status. They are matters of faith. A Christian cannot reason them away, even if many semi- Christians have been trying recently to do so. These miracles are reported to us in texts which are inspired: the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Would it be presumptuous to maintain, as we do, that things are no longer the same, nor will they ever be the same, and that we should accept the fact that the series came to an end 1900 years ago? The ground rules have changed. The most instantaneous cures, such as have been certified at Lourdes, could be multiplied ad infinitum in any given contemporary place of apparitions without our being able to argue from them that these apparitions were authentic. For these miracles, notarized, proven and established, are not part of the deposit of faith, and never shall be. Is it not obvious that one cannot equate Bethany, where Christ resuscitated Lazarus, who had been dead for three days, with Vadiakkadu in India, where the Virgin on June 1, 1991, resuscitated a baby, dead and buried for six months? To refuse the miracle of Bethany means siding with the Pharisees. In comparison, to refuse the miracle of Vadiakkadu does not mean a thing, since my eternal salvation is no longer at stake. I can contest Vadiakkadu for any conceivable reason: there were only 60 witnesses and the two videos could have been manipulated... ̶ 4 ̶ Nonetheless, if every miracle is a grace granted to man from God, every grace deserves to be acknowledged. Our indifference to what is not of this world is not the best way to go there one day in person. We shall be judged on the quality of our love, that is on our eagerness to answer God's call. If the help from heaven intensifies our devotion, can there be any objections? If the supernatural disguises itself behind appearances as tangible as Eucharistic bread, can it not occasionally show its real features? Doing so would not automatically mean it lost the privileged status it enjoyed because of its source. Sceptics are in a difficult situation. Their rationalism imperils the delicate plants of spiritual life which the Lord showers at will with his graces. It is He 235 WHEN "NATURE IS THE IMAGE OF GRACE" who makes the decision. It is for us to show our gratitude. But a sophist is as fond of arguments as he is immune to wonders. In his eyes, marvels introduce into our measurable and quantitative world an element of uncertainty which is repugnant to science. For an agnostic anyway, what is supernatural does not exist, and for a mitigated rationalist such as can be found only too often among Christians, the supernatural, since the death of the last apostle, can only be tolerated if it is invisible. This means unduly restricting the realm of what is possible, however. Let us conclude therefore with Pascal that "the visible miracles are the reflection of the invisible [miracles]," because "nature is the image of grace." God shows himself through a sign, which receives in this way, by analogy, a dignity as eminent as the transcendent reality expressed. Unhappy therefore are the men who refuse to see that "God has... shown the power he has to give invisible goods, through that which he exerts over visible ones." 152 It pleases God to show Himself through wonders. Above all, through wonders participating in the eminent dignity of Revelation. Furthermore, in our times, he shows himself through wonders reflecting this initial Revelation, since He is ratifying it for our benefit. Thus, even if they are not de fide, the signs and the miracles of today are the surety needed by our declining faith. They are obvious for those who witness them, who can thus accede to a better knowledge of God-given truths, and to that state of spiritual childhood they were lacking. After all, can we disbelieve what we have seen? As once said a simple soul who had benefited from a mystical grace: "I no longer believe, I know." This infused knowledge does not render less deserving the theological virtue to which it adds, and does not detract from. It does not supersede our reason, but it addresses our heart, through the medium of our sense-perceptions. How beautiful and great is your condescension to our unworthiness, 0 Lord, and how undeserving is the rationalism which wants to convince us that wonders are unreal! 153 According to Maria Valtorta, our Lord does not brook doubts

152 Pensees, Brunschvicg, nos; 675 & 643. 153 There seems in fact to be too many of them, as those pilgrims can testify who were among the first to go to Heroldsbach, Medjugorje, Schio, Manduria, San Damiano, etc.... Sceptics have a tendency to downplay whatever strains credibility: "What is exaggerated is deemed insignificant." These upholders of norms of the past, erected as so many 236 HEROLDSBACH concerning his manifestations: There are few things that I condemn as severely as a rationalism which attacks the integrity of the Faith ... Rationalism murders me in men's hearts ... and saddens the Church and the world. I have condemned other things. But nothing as strongly as rationalism. It is the seed from which so many other malignant doctrines have sprouted. It has opened the way to Satan whose reign has never been so successful as since rationalism took hold. And the Lord who forgives without trouble "the wretch who has committed an inhuman crime which he has repented" declares "that: 'I will have the countenance of a Judge for those who, on the basis of doctrinaire human science, negate the supernatural limitations for the present, do curtail, without always being aware of it, heavenly liberality. How great was the scandal, in the pseudo-scientific context of the ages, when the miracles of Lourdes made the headlines! No less a writer than Zola felt that he should investigate the proceedings. He went to Lourdes, brought back a book, and described, as a slow process an instantaneous cure he had witnessed in person. Such are the ways of the world! If God multiplies a hundred-fold today his interventions in various places of Marian apparitions, is it not because the need is greater than ever? But we also have, if we are willing, more wonders at our disposal. At Heroldsbach, for instance, three little visionary girls tiptoed as they handed their rosaries over to Mary so that she could bless them. As the Virgin took the rosaries in her hands, one after the other, and raised them up for the blessing, the crowd saw them floating in mid-air, above their heads, without any apparent support. There were "oh's" and "ah's" of wonder. This is but a small token of the signs lavished upon the bystanders. Had not the Virgin previously commented: "Those who do not believe should remain at home," thus chiding the remaining sceptics for their bad faith(a)? Let those who wish to overcome their doubts repeat the prayer of the father of the epileptic in the Gospels: "Master,... help me overcome my unbelief!" (Mk 9: 23). Here is another example of a derogation of the laws of nature, which lasted for several months. The Virgin of Heroldsbach, when she moved from one spot to the other, would often ask the little girls to follow her on their bare knees. The astonishing part of this penitential exercise is that the resulting unavoidable sores, scratches and skin lesions regularly disappeared without a trace during the following night, as if they had

237 RATIONALISM CONDEMNED in the way in which the Father wants me to make it manifest."' 154 Now, what is rationalism? It is negation. It refuses to recognize the existence or the possibility of phenomena that neither natural forces nor the light of reason can account for. Rationalism is to be found outside the Church, and then it maintains that there are no miracles. It is also to be found, in a mitigated form, within the Church, and then it affirms that the only real miracles are those of the past. Yet, as I have shown, those of the present time can be supernaturally useful. Why see a contradiction where there is none? Miracles are but the visible part of what is invisible. Modernism is omnipresent in our world, however, at least in attenuated form, and miracles are its phobia. Rationalism as such is the sign of the devil, since it is the negation of the supernatural. Lucifer, a created entity as many others, but the highest in dignity, the most excellent and the most beautiful, could hardly refuse the gift of being which had been granted to him. Lucifer had also been made of such spiritual stuff that it was too perfect to find fault with. Self-love, nonetheless, finds its justification in itself,

never existed. Let any one wishing to minimize the trauma of barekneed locomotion try it out on a gravel-path! He will soon be convinced that it is anything but enjoyable. Since variety is one of the distinctive attributes of charisms, the little girls of Garabandal could fall to their knees, in instantaneous and noisy unison on stony roads, and slither around on bare knees, not only with astonishing agility, but also without the slightest hurt or injury. At Heroldsbach, on the other hand, the penitential component of the message from Heaven was more manifest. The little girls had been requested to dig a symbolic "well of mystical graces" in the dry ground with their bare hands. The hole which resulted from this long-lasting and painstaking task was to take the shape of a declivity as deep as the diggers were tall. Their labours must have been painful because their fingers were bloodied. Once again, every time by the next day, however, the wounds had been healed as if they had never occurred. (a) Norbert Langhofer: Reich der Mystik, Die Botschaft von Heroldsbach, I, Verlag "Arche Josef," Heroldsbach- Forcheim, 1971, pp. 124-125.

154 Cahiers de 1943: p.101; pp. 202-203.

238 LUCIFER'S DILEMMA according to an inclination too exclusive for any form of fellowship, even a fellowship more intimate than any created nature can provide. The dilemma was that Lucifer was offered a variant of the sonship of God and of the brotherhood of Christ commensurate with his nature as a pure spirit... This offer of a love other than his own was seen by him, however, as a form of self-alienation, entailing a state of dependence on another than himself. As Simone Weil has put it, speaking of men, "we are such that we can only love God. That is our tragedy." That is also our saving grace. It would have been that of Lucifer himself, had he been willing to welcome what can only be reciprocated through an act of boundless gratitude.

Heroldsbach girls digging the "well of mystical graces"

239 Gospa of Medjugorje Queen of Peace

Medjugorje Seers Vicka, Jakov, Mirjana, Ivanka, Marija and Ivan

240 THE PAST IS THE MEASURE OF THE PRESENT FORTY PRÆTERITUM MENSURA PRAESENTIS

ccording to this principle, manifestations of the supernatural order should conform to the norms set in previous centuries. In other words, to be authentic Medjugorje would have to be somewhat like Lourdes, La Salette or the Rue du Bac. Standards have been set in the past. The Church is a living body which learns from its age-old experience. What departs from what is to be expected in the light of history is suspect. Tradition is the touchstone of truth. 155 ̶ 4 ̶ The drawback of this criterion is that it relies on lessons learned in other times under sometimes totally different conditions. Furthermore, memory is selective and nothing is more reassuring than what is familiar. God is not bound by our assumptions, however. How frequently was Christ disconcerting to his hearers in his parables! Mary

155 According to this argument, Medjugorje would hardly conform to the requirements of past experience. As Marian Ljubic points out: "... it has never happened in the history of the Church that apparitions took place in a context such as that of Medjugorje: in a church, during the Holy Mass, with a perfect regularity, that is, every day, with full knowledge and agreement and in the presence of the local clergy." (La Vierge Marie apparaît en Yougoslavie: Ed. du Parvis, CH-1640 Hauteville, 1984 (?), p. 77). To the mind of the author of these lines, this unprecedented novelty is considered as most propitious for the authenticity of these apparitions. The opposite, of course, is the conclusion drawn by the critics of Medjugorje, for whom any innovation in the modus operandi of Heaven would be doing violence to this principle of invariability which, if it is fundamental in matters of dogma, should also be axiomatic, they think, for supernatural interventions.

241 "WEARING A BLINDFOLD" also, almost as a mother wishing to surprise her child with a present, astonishes us as often as she enchants us. To benefit fully from her visits, however, we must be receptive. Why should we arbitrarily set limits on her bounties? Narrow-mindedness is out of place when we are confronted with the incommensurate diversity of the gifts of God! Our very expectations run amiss. As in a symphony whose initial theme unfolds beautifully, because of its innate necessity, the divine idea presiding over supernatural interventions coincides with a plan which becomes apparent only after the event has concluded. Only now can we fully appreciate the providential impact of Fatima, now that the iron curtain has fallen to dust. We understand at last what we could only have surmised then. Those who trusted in Providence were proven right. What we call a "private revelation" nonetheless requires from us an act of faith in God. It teaches us a lesson, and that is its very purpose. We cannot disregard the prophetic nature of current Marian apparitions simply because we cannot yet fully understand their implication. They are indispensable, even if, at the outset, from our own limited point of view, they may have seemed superfluous. They may disturb us if they are not consistent with the patterns set in the past. Yet, they answer the needs and problems of today, arising from our lack of piety and innate lack of foresight. For those who always want to know the "why" and the "wherefore" of all things,156 the most disconcerting aspect of the messages of the Virgin is the chronological uncertainty of the events announced. If the apostles could not distinguish between the prophecies dealing with the destruction of Jerusalem and those concerning the

156 Etienne Gilson, perspicaciously, used to lambast the incredulity of his colleagues: "What is for professors a source of astonishment loses, in their eyes, all claim to existence." Victor Hugo wrote appropriately: "[Ie] est puéril ... de se figurer qu'en se bandant les yeux devant l'inconnu, on supprime l'inconnu (It is childish ... to imagine that wearing a blindfold before the unknown, cancels the existence of the unknown)." (Les travailleurs de la mer, I, 1, 7). It is to be expected that scientists who restrict themselves to the observation of phenomena that can be repeated in a laboratory should be allergic to the singularity of wonders. But it is more than astonishing when theologians, whose object of study are the mysteries of faith, are intolerant of the supernatural appearing under the likeness of the Virgin Mary. (For the quotes, see: L'ajfaire Jésus of Henri Guillemin, Seuil , Paris, 1982, p. 84). 242 Mirjana of Medjugorje in ecstasy

243 THE HOLY SHROUD DISPARAGED second coming of Christ, how are we to cope with what the Virgin has been telling us for some time already, as far back as La Salette? How are we to understand "the Warning" and "the Chastisement" as proximate events? The lesson to be drawn from the apostles, however, is that the early Christians who heeded the prophecies were able, when the Jews revolted in 69, to escape from the ensuing massacre. "Readiness is all," wrote Shakespeare, and the oil of faith does not fail the wise virgins expecting the bridegroom. A Christian knows that Christ worked miracles, and that Christ delegated to his disciples the capacity to do the same. Yet we currently witness the astonishing situation where Marian apparitions accompanied by cures and conversions are received with dismay or disbelief As if a tree were not to be judged by its fruit!157 In the past, miracles were welcomed as the best proof of the truth of Revelation. Today, wonders are dismissed as mere hearsay, superstition or mythmongering. What has not been hallowed by tradition is not worthy of our attention! What is not remote in time or place lacks the halo of mystery. By some mental aberration, a miracle that can readily be verified is considered less real than one we read about in books. Because of the watertight division between science and belief, a wonder is without interest if it can be observed. It is a scandal for many when something happens nowadays for which there is no rational explanation within the field of natural causes. The Holy Shroud of Torino is disparaged on the grounds that the image registered is not an object of faith since it is visible, nor an object

157 Astonishingly enough, this was Luther's contention. That he was standing the quotation of Christ on its head did not seem to bother him. According to him, "it is by the tree that the fruits can be judged."(a) Many of the people denying the supernaturality of present-day apparitions are proceeding similarly, claiming that the good fruits to be found at places such as Medjugorje do not prove anything since one is not sure in the first place that it is Mary herself who is appearing. In their eyes, one cannot argue from the supernaturality of the fruits (such as conversions) to the supernaturality of what initiated them. We thus have an effect without an appropriate cause! (a) Pierre Chaunu quoting the abbé Christiani in his preface to Luther: Les grands récits réformateurs (Flammarion, Paris, 1992, p. 84) in his commentary On Christian Freedom. 244 FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT of science because the technique used for its impression is unknown, or even worse, horrendum nefas (capital offence), unexplainable . This being in-between, at halfway between two domains alien to each other, is both unthinkable for the mind, and incompatible with experience which it seems to flout with a fact that cannot be cancelled. What is supernatural should not be too close for comfort! Familiarity breeds contempt. What is from above should not mingle with what is from below. The rejection of Christ by his fellow-Jews can be best understood, for example, as the refusal to receive a Messiah who does not conform to a pre-conceived image. In the light of this historical precedent, the current scepticism greeting Marian apparitions seems unavoidable. The Virgin's exquisite informality disturbs the dictates of convention. We have, it seems, more important business to attend to than to hasten to her encounter when she leaves her celestial abode. To the standard formula: "God's in his heaven, all's right with the world," the following variant may be preferred: "If God is in his heaven, all's right with our world."

245 Our Lady of Mt. Carmel of Garabandal

Visionaries of Garabandal Loli, Conchita, Jacinta and Mari Cruz

246 I BELIEVE BECAUSE IT IS ABSURD FORTY ONE CREDO QUIA ABSURDUM

hy does one believe in the authenticity of current apparitions? As we have seen in previous chapters, there can be good reasons for being sceptical. However, one does not go on a pilgrimage without motivation, nor give credence to what one has been told without justification. Critics of Christianity have found a convenient epigram to discredit commitments to truths that cannot be intellectually verified: "Credo quia absurdum." Some Protestant denominations even distrust reason to the point that they seem to make Pascal's injunction their own: "Tais-toi, raison imbécile!" ("Shut up, foolish reason.") As if we could safely dispense with common sense in theological matters. ̶ 4 ̶ Nonetheless, ''credo quia absurdum" is not a Christian maxim. Those faithful who today are convinced of the authenticity of current apparitions do so on good grounds. I would like to bring to the attention of my readers some specific arguments for believing in apparitions which have not been previously mentioned. They are not substantially different from those which led the apostles to believe in Christ. Nathanael is a case in point. For this "good Israelite in whom there is no guile" was astounded to discover that Christ had a foreknowledge of him that could only be supernatural. "Whence knowest thou me?" Jesus answered him and said: "Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee." To meet someone enjoying the gift of double sight could only have one meaning for this future apostle, i.e., that he found himself in the presence of "the Son of God... the King of Israel." Christ congratulates him on his readiness to believe on the basis of so slight an evidence: "Greater things than these shalt thou see... You shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man" (Jn 1: 51). The transition from "thou" to "you" seems to indicate that the fulfilment of this last promise belongs to the distant future, since Nathanael, who became the apostle Bartholomew, would not be there

247 DON VALENTIN'S RUDE AWAKENING for this prophetic accomplishment of "Jacob's dream." Three levels are to be distinguished in this passage of St. John's: the sign that induces belief, the marvels that will confirm this belief, and the eschatological vision. These levels are also to be found in Marian apparitions. Happy are the faithful who will thus receive confirmation of the supernatural character of what they are witnessing! Such was the case, for instance, of Father Ramon Andreu at Garabandal, when his inner and unexpressed wish brought about an immediate response: Let one of these [four] children awake from her trance while the others remain ecstatic." And this is what happened. Mari-Loli suddenly returned to a normal state, turned slightly around to look at Padre Ramon, before becoming ecstatic again." 158 Much more extraordinary, however, was what happened to Don Valentin on May 9, 1962, when he asked Heaven to grant him an indisputable sign, ie, to "let these little girls come in a state of ecstasy this very night, while he is asleep, let them awaken him, bless him with the sign of the cross and give him the crucifix to kiss." Nothing less. And: At exactly two o'clock in the morning, one of the girls, in a state of ecstasy, arrives at Don Valentin's door, and begins to knock. Since all are asleep, there is no answer, but the girl insists so violently that at last the door is opened. Don Valentin is asleep and does not know that the girl is in the house. She comes, still ecstatic, to his room. Without warning, she opens the door and places the crucifix on his lips, which awakens him with a start. The little girl blesses him several times with the cross and finally with a smile leaves the room." 159 Not surprisingly Don Valentin, thus overcome by this stupefying response to his silent prayer, became one of the most ardent advocates

158 Jacques Serre-Béatrice Caux: Garabandal (F.X. de Guibert, Paris, 1996, p. 68). 159 F. Sanchez-Ventura y Pascual: La Vierge est-elle apparue à Garabandal? (Nouvellles Editions Latines, Paris, 1966, p. 124). 248 BILOCATION AND STIGMATA of Garabandal! As a result of which, he lost his good standing with the apostolic administrator. In the absence of prejudice, Heaven graciously condescends to satisfy individual requests, often those of persons who least expect it. They may even, for a short space of time, share the seers' vision, as at Heroldsbach, when several of the faithful, lost in the crowd, witnessed the miracle of "the Woman in the Sun." For the Virgin will show herself to whoever is the most in need of consolation. At Medjugorje, two bereaved mothers, who had become befriended through their common loss, recognized their own children, one as the infant in the Virgin's arm and the other as the little boy holding her hand. As for the visionaries, Heaven will sometimes authenticate their mission with an extraordinary sign. Worth mentioning, in the matter of bilocation, is the case of Amparo of El Escorial. Sometimes an angel impersonates her convincingly, speaking and acting as if in her name. The angel, however, at one moment or another, through some hieratic attitude or an exquisite perfume, will betray his real nature. All doubts are dispelled when the real Amparo, yet unaware of what took place, is discovered at some other location, which witnesses can testify that she had never left. 160 The apparition of stigmata on this same visionary is an even better established fact. It is a transitory phenomenon, during which she relives the sufferings of the Passion of Christ. In this respect, she is but one of the many stigmatized visionaries who, for a while at least, bear in their flesh the bloody imprint of the crucifixion. 161 Just as Nathanael, who became Bartholomew, the apostle- later to be flayed alive, was not to witness "the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man," the visionaries, whose fortitude

160 Gabriel: Premier récit authentique des apparitions de l'Escorial (F.-X. de Guibert, Paris, 1996, chap. 6, on the bilocations, pp. 221-232). 161 Id. 2, on the stigmata, pp. 139-177. Among the other stigmatized visionaries , whose messages are especially impressive, we should mention Gladys Quiroga de Motta at San-Nicolas in Argentina and Sister Agnes Sasagawa at Akita, in Japan. But these are only two names taken from a long list. 249 MARI-LOLI is taxed by the disbelief of Church authorities, do not always enjoy the privilege of seeing their prophecies realized. On this point, however, since we are presently, according to the Virgin, entering into the eschatological era announced in the Apocalypse, the young visionaries of this generation should be able to appreciate, in both its reassuring and cataclysmic accomplishment, the accuracy of the predictions they made. It would then be with them as with Lucy of Fatima, who saw the confirmation of what she had announced, with World War II and the Russian menace, followed by its present decline.

Mari-Loli in one of those gracious "ecstatic falls" of Garabandal which seemed sometimes to defy the laws of gravity

250 CONCERNING THE RETURN OF CHRIST FORTY TWO DE REDITU CHRISTI

hen Christ will come again, it will be on His throne of glory for the Judgment of the Living and the Dead; and with good reason. For such is the opinion of the great majority of theologians. This throws into discredit what we hear concerning the "end of times" foretold at Garabandal or at Medjugorje. How should we interpret therefore such an universal disaster as "the three days of Darkness", which will cull the number of inhabitants of the earth with the deadly certainty of an immanent justice? As if the Last Judgment needed a curtain-raiser or a trial-run? Neither are there justifiable grounds, according to current exegesis, to interpret otherwise than metaphorically "the thousand years" of the Apocalypse during which Satan will be locked in hell. Furthermore, is there such a thing as "an intermediate return" of Christ? When he left us on Ascension day, he announced the forthcoming arrival of the Holy Ghost. As for the two angels who at his departure said he would return (Acts 1, 11), they meant that this would take place on Judgment Day. ̶ 4 ̶ Significantly, the above critique brings together four notions which should not be considered separately. The "end of times" 162 does suggest a break in history as a result of the "Great Tribulation". And these "three days of darkness" culminate into Satan's "thousand years" emprisonment in hell. This is when the second or intermediate return of Christ finds place, even if its true nature remains mysterious. Certain prophecies, however, such as the following one of Christ to St. Faustina, helpfully throw a light on the question: Before coming as a righteous Judge, I [will] come first as King of Mercy. Before the advent of the day of justice, a sign in the sky will be given to men. All light will go out in the sky, and

162 Not to be confused with the "end of Time".

251 PROPHECIES there will be a great darkness on all of the earth. The Sign of the Cross will appear in heaven, and from the wounds in the hands and the feet of the Saviour, a great light shall stream, which for a while will illuminate the earth.163 As in most prophecies, the time-element is not mentioned. Can we relate it, however, to some pronouncements of recent Popes?164 John Paul II, in particular, in his declarations of Beyrouth on May 11, 1997, or of Torino on May 24, 1998, addresses our generation: "Our spirit, animated by a vivid experience, rejoices and invoques: 'Come Lord Jesus'. And the answer, reported by the book of the Apocalypse, fills our heart with joy as it does that of every believer: 'Yes, I shall come soon'"! Thus, if it were conceivable that one should rejoice at the thought of the Last Judgement, how more plausible is it that one should celebrate the proximate return of Christ for the establishment of His reign on earth, be it for a limited time and in a limited scope... The Pope expresses himself here in terms which are vague enough for indeterminate interpretation, and probably deliberately so. Furthermore, his words are reminiscent of those of the early Church Fathers. With his prophetic utterances John Paul II seems to be saying: "The reign of Christ is for tomorrow." But to which tomorrow is he alluding? Does he expect a "Parousia" such as was familiar to the expectations of the early Christians? For, if we go back far enough in history, we will find that the doctrine, according to which the Scriptures had foretold that Christ would return, not only once but twice, was a familiar one. It was shared by no lesser figures than , Justinian, Tertullian,

163 Sister Faustna was very reluctant at first to transmit this information which she foresaw would be received with much skepticism. But our Lord insisted that if she did not do so, she would be personally responsible for resulting loss of souls. As to whether this Sign will appear at this moment, or at a later date, I do not know. Whatever the case, it deserves to be mentioned. 164 For what the other Popes have to say, see the "Conclusion"chapter of this book. 165 This restrictive "even" in the case of the bishop of Hippo is not without justification, since as we shall see later, he seemed to have trouble making up his mind on this subject.

252 REIGN OF SAINTS Hyppolytus, Methodus, Lactantius, and even Augustine. 165 According to Irenaeus (140-202), Christ will establish in his first return what might be called "the Reign of Saints". This bishop of Lyon, who knew Polycarpus (65-156), the disciple of the apostle John, reasons as follows: It is meet, indeed, that in this very world where [the Just] have laboured and in which their patience has been tried in so many ways, they should reap the fruit of this patience; that in this world in which they have been put to death because of their love for God, they should come back to life; that in this world where they suffered from servitude, they should reign. For God is rich in all good things, and all things belong to him. It is appropriate therefore that this world, restored to its primeval state, should find itself, without hindrance of any kind, to the service of the Just (Against the heresies, V, 321, 1). "This will happen after the defeat of the Antechrist", explains Patrick de Laubier, "it is the first resurrection that will be followed by a second general resurrection preceding, for the Just, eternal life properly speaking... "166 Before him St. Papias (70-150)167 described a Kingdom, where "the just shall reign, after having resuscitated from the dead... [while] creation... liberated and renewed, produces in abundance all kind of nourishment... " As for St. Justin, martyr, (100/110-165) he announced a time of universal peace: If you ever meet... Christians who do not accept this doctrine, do not consider them as true Christians... For I am certain... that there will be a resurrection of the flesh followed by a thousand years in the town of Jerusalem, reconstructed, embellished and expanded, as foretold by Ezechiel, Isaiah and the other prophets.

166 From Le temps de la fin des temps, F.X. De Guibert, Paris, 1994, p. 46. 167 St. Papias is especially authoritative because it is to him, according to lrenaeus, that St John dictated his Gospel. See on this point Joseph Iannuzzi (La splendeur de la Création, p. 49-50; to whom l owe also all of the following quotations from Church Fathers (chapter 3.1, pp. 47-78).

253 DOUBLE DEFEAT OF EVIL St. Iraeneus of Lyon, already mentioned, was quite as specific in his book Adversus Haereses: After the Antechrist has reduced the whole world to a wasteland and reigned for three and a half years... the Lord will come on the clouds down from high heaven... and will send the Antechrist with his faithful into the lake of fire... That is when the just will reign after being resurrected from the dead... That is what the presbyters who have seen John, the disciple of the Lord, remember hearing him say, when he evoked the teaching of the Lord concerning these times... Humanity will be in peace with itself, and so will Nature where crops will be bountiful and animals live in peace with each other. The most explicit and eloquent Church Father is Lactancius (250- 317). He reads the Apocalypse literally and announces a double defeat of evil: a temporary one at first, when the casting into hell of the false prophet, the Beast and all devils introduces a millenium of peace; and secondly, an everlasting downfall, when after this interlude, the last- minute comeback of iniquity, in the guise of Gog and Magog, ushers in the Last Judgment. Consequently, the Son of God... will come... Once he has eradicated injustice and executed his great judgment and brought back to life the justs..., he will remain amongst men for a thousand years and will govern them with justice... The world itself will rejoice and nature will exult, liberated from the domination of evil, and of impiety, crime and error. According to Iannuzzi, the expression "'Christ will remain amongst men for a thousand years' signifies essentiallyan interior and spiritual reign in the souls" (my emphasis). The first judgment is executed over all unbelievers living at that time in the world: such is the firstparousia . The second and final judgment, which takes place a thousand years later, concerns all of mankind. 168 St. Cyrill of Jerusalem (315-386), both Father and Doctor of the

168 Apparently, Iannuzzi has adopted the point of view of St. ( 1090-1153), for whom the second Coming of Christ is "invisible, while the two others are visible." This "intermediate Coming is hidden; the elect alone see the Lord in themselves, and they are saved". Discretion seems to be its distinctive feature.

254 A TIME OF PEACE Church, makes a distinction between the first coming of Christ, when He is born of a Virgin, and "the second hidden coming as that of a rain on a fleece, and the third coming which takes place before the eyes of all..." As for St. Augustine (354-430), his teaching on this theme is, to say the least, confusing. At first, in the City of God (chap 7) he describes the 1000 years mentioned in the Apocalypse as the sabbatical rest of the Saints "who will ressuscitate to solemnize it". Then, in a further section of chapter 7, he equates the last millenium with the final state of perfection of souls. Lastly in the following chapter, he uses the 1000 years as a symbolic figure covering the state of the Church since the birth of Christ till the end of the world. Strangely enough, this last interpretation alone has been deemed worthy of consideration by most of the theologians of the Middle Ages up to our days. They seemed to think that this last version implicitly canceled the two previous ones.169 More probably, Augustine was merely proposing tentatively a hypothesis for the benefit of whoever did not agree with tradition. Thanks to God, St. John Chrysostbomos ( 347-407) was of different persuasion! And so was St. Bonaventure (1221-1274) who foresaw "a time of peace at the end of times. Indeed, after the great ruin of the Church, Antichrist shall be vanquished by Michael,... there will come, preceding the Day of Judgment, a time of such peace and tranquillity, such as there never has been since the creation of the world." And men

169 As for the "thousand years", I would rather follow the interpretation of the Challoner-Rheims translation of the Vulgata in the following note: "A thousand years: not to be taken literally. It refers to a considerable length of time and signifies that, after the destruction of hostile kings and the chaining of the dragon, the Church will enjoy a long era of peace. During this era, Christ will reign over the souls of men and Christians, through their influence over the world, will reign with Christ". (Saint Anthony Guild Press , Paterson, New Jersey, 1941, p. 738). 170 "Then will the prophecy of Ezechiel 40 be accomplished, when the city... from below, id est the militant Church, will insofar as it is possible in this world, be conformed to the triumphant Church. Then comes the edification of the city and the restoration of all things, as it was in the beginning. And then it will be peace. But how long this peace will last, God [alone] knows." (Les Six Jours de la Création, Desclée, 1991 (Cerf), p. 373)

255 TWO THESES will there be "of a holiness comparable to that at the time of the apostles." For "to those who will resist the Antechrist, the Spirit will be given in abundance."170 Thus it is noteworthy that Cardinal Ratzinger, who wrote his Ph.D. thesis on this latter saint, mentions that such a teaching "has never been officially rejected or condemned by the Church". And this is good news, since it is precisely the glad tidings brought to us by the Apocalypse: Those who refused to worship the Beast and its image, and did not accept his mark upon their foreheads or upon their hands: they came back to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years... This is the first resurrection (Ap. 20, 4-5). As for Cardinal Jean Daniélou, in his A History of Early Christian Doctrine (pp. 377, 379), he is convinced that St. John means what he says. Indeed, there will be "an intermediary stage in which the ressuscitated saints are still on earth and have not yet entered into their final stage, for this is one of the aspects of the mystery of the last days which has not yet been revealed." Concerning the "return of Christ", therefore, there are two theses, none of which has been dogmatically defined. Between them, what choice should be made? Has John Paul II himself decided in favour of a coming of Christ "on the clouds of heaven" (Acts 1, 11) distinct and separate from his return in the glory of the Father for the Last Judgment? Taken in itself, this interpretation is certainly most appealing, even if it is not certain... Nonetheless, in the course of history, some eminent figures stand out, almost as living relics either of a bygone opinion, or as forerunners of a new theological trend. Such were in the XII th century St. Hildegarde of Bingen, St. Bernard of Clairvaux and Joachim de Flora, and in the XIIIth century Nicolas de Cusa and, as above, St. Bonaventure. As for Marie des Vallées, whom St. John Eudes used to consult in the XVIIth century, she places this coming event as in a series of deluges: the first one being of water, and sent by the Eternal Father; the second, being of blood, and which issued from the side of the Son on the cross; while the third that shall be of fire and that the Holy Ghost will send, "will be as sorrowful as were the preceding ones, because it will meet with much resistance and a great amount of green wood which will not burn readily." It is thus, may one say, that this ardent flame of charity that separated in tongues of fire above the head of the apostles

256 "ONE WILL BE TAKEN, THE OTHER LEFT." will change, at the end of times, into a conflagration that devours evil. In his judicious disposition of the ages of mankind, God has foreseen the moment where, following the "Great Tribulation", his reign will be established on earth for a symbolic millenium. To this kingdom to come those men will contribute who, after the angels have sorted out the weeds from the grain, shall have been spared the fiery furnace (Mt 13, 36-43). This parable applies properly no doubt to the end of the world; but it takes on an analogical meaning when it is applied to the "end of times" which can be seen as a curtain-raiser to the "end of Time". Is it in these terms that the following disconcerting scriptural passage is to be understood: "I say to you, on that night there will be in one bed; one will be taken, and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding together; one will be taken; and the other will be left. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken, and the other will be left" (Lk 17, 34-36)? May I suggest once again an analogy for the interpretation of this mysterious text? When the atomic bomb fell upon Hiroshima, the whole town with all its inhabitants were annihilated, with the exception of the house of the Jesuit Fathers, whose occupants survived, not only the explosion, but the effects of the remaining radioactivity. Can we conclude that their dwelling was spared, because it was the only one, in the center of the town, where the rosary was being recited daily?171

171 The analogy which I propose is rather matter-of-fact compared to the explanation of the visionary Luz Amparo of l' Escorial. - The Lord has just told her: "I, as Son of the Living God, have the power to master the lightning in my hands and to order my chariots of fire to collect all my elect and transport them in this place, my daughter. Look at these chariots, my daughter, and describe them." Amparo (while punctuating her description with exclamations of admiration and joy): "I see big chariots, with big wheels; inside there are men dressed as lions and eagles, and they always look forward; the wings join each other; they descend. There are millions and millions of eyes around them. Human arms reach out to take the creatures; they land on earth with lions' claws, they carry on their heads diving helmets of sapphire and on their bodies stones of jasper; these wheels are turned towards the four cardinal points. They are... millions..., open their eyes, stretch their arms and choose all these creatures... They are all inside, they close their eyes and open their claws, and their wheels are directed in the same direction..., arrive in another world, another different world; all is splendour and beauty... They all stop, they open anew their eyes, they 257 "SOME WILL BE TAKEN" Whatever the case, the eschatological messages of the apparitions of Garabandal, San Damiano, l'Escorial, Venezuela, etc.... belong to a prophetic tradition which began with the early Fathers of the Church and which was pursued by Mélanie Calvat of La Salette. 172 all begin to leave. Oh, how many are there...! Oh! how beautiful is this place! They will stay there until the Last Judgment... Oh! such greatness!" (L' Escorial, Messages, 1992-1998: Association Vierge des Douleurs du Pré-Neuf de l' Escorial, F-64170 Artix, 1999, pp. 44-45: excerpts). The fate of the "creatures" thus chosen; transported "onto the earth of Eden, is reserved to those who have lived the Gospel" (id.), explains Christ. And he specifies, so that it be perfectly clear, that this marvelous translation does not concern "the major part of humanity." And, as if by gracious condescendence to our miserable intellectual infirmity, he refers to the text of Matthew (24, 40-41) whose meaning he has just explained, even if the language used, in the naïvely neo-prophetic and old-testamentary style of Amparo, should, at first, baffle us more than reassure us. But, with these words reminiscent of the Gospel, we are on familiar grounds: "Some will be taken, others will be left behind; among fathers and sons, some will remain and others will be removed." Was not Amparo alluding in this vision to these people "having... the name [of the Lamb] and the name of his Father written on their foreheads" whom St. John has numbered in the Apocalypse as "a hundred and forty- four thousand"? And of whom he says that they "were not defiled by women, for they are virgins" and that they "follow the Lamb wherever he goes"? And he adds: "These were purchased from among men, first- fruits unto God and unto the Lamb... in their mouth there was found no lie; they are without blemish" (14, 1-5). According to Father Tamisier, these elect "are virgins" in the prophetic sense, because [they have] fled all compromise with the idols and [have practiced] asceticism, or else the counsels of perfect life, until martyrdom if [necessary]" (L'Apocalypse et ses harmonies bibliques: Ed. des nouvelles images bibliques; Lombreuil (Loiret), 1964). (Our emphasis). The visions of Amparo, far from disconcerting us, should reassure us, since they point to the convergence of meaning of revealed texts, whose references are to be found at the end of next chapter. 172 At l'Escorial, for instance on June 19, 1981, Archangel Gabriel explained to the visionary Luz Amparo Cuevas that the symbolical vision that she had signified that Jesus would appear "resplendent to all those 258 "THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS" Let us not underestimate the power of prayer. For two thousand years, at the bidding of Christ, Christians have been addressing to God the three following requests: "Our Father who art in heaven, 1) Hallowed be thy name; 2) Thy Kingdom come; 3) Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven"... whose soul will be centered on God and on his very Holy Mother", and that this would be "the second Coming of Jesus on earth". "Our Lord and our Lady will often confirm... the Triumph of the two United Hearts, this intermediary Coming of Jesus, before the establishment of his glorious reign on earth." (Gabriel: L'Escorial, Messages 1992-1998, Association Vierge ds Douleurs du Pré Neuf de l' Escorial, F-64170 Artix, p. 19). Not only does the Virgin in current apparitions announce the coming of her Son in a not too distant future to establish that very Kingdom of God for which we pray in the "Our Father", but also countless mystics do so. For instance, just as a sample, let us quote the following from "Angela's" notebooks: "Why is it so difficult to greet with Mary the project of Redemption that of God the Father for humanity? Why should we believe that Jesus returns solely to bring this world to an end?... [For] when I read the Scriptures I feel in my heart the always greater conviction that Jesus will return to restore the creation." And Angela adds what she heard from Christ: "No, my little one, I shall not return to destroy. I am Mercy... Satan would have vanquished if I came now to judge the world. The Immaculate Heart of Mary would not triumph over so many dispersed sons... my little child, what would be this Triumph, if this victory of "the woman dressed in the sun" could not be shared by her sons who are also mine? And it would be meaningless if my sons never could enjoy the reality for which I immolated myself! What sense would it make that Satan no longer has might over My creation if I came back to destroy it?... [For] I long to embrace My sons in my arms... l wish to play with your children. I wish to be greeted in your homes. I wish to make you at last know and taste what the Father had prepared for you on this earth! " (Quoted in Stella Maris, July-Aug. 2006, pp. 29~30; from Je suis la Résurrection et la vie, Ed. du Parvis, Hauteville, Switzerland, 2003). Only too often do authors, when they evoke the "Second Return" of Christ as imminent, speak of it explicitely as the Coming of Christ in 259 THE KINGDOM OF GOD It can be said that God is about to fulfill request number two: "adveniat regnum tuum", 173 and by inference simultaneously numbers one and three. And could not this reign of Christ be of this earth, even if it is only for "half a time" (Ap 12, 14), prior to the Last Judgment? The ways of the Lord are not as inscrutable as one thinks: there is an element of repetition in the language of love, it conforms to familar patterns... And the logic governing the order of antecedence for the first coming of Christ remains in force for his return: "It is through the very blessed Virgin Mary that Jesus came in this world, writes Saint Louis- Marie Grignion de Montfort, and it is also through her that he must reign in the world." Is not Mary "the dawn that precedes and uncovers the Sun of justice?" And if the dawn ushers in the day, so does Mary with Jesus. Thus, "if...[the] lovable Jesus... comes a second time on earth (as it is certain) to reign there, he will choose no other way for his trip than the his glory for the Last Judgment. However, to be able to accommodate in such a short lapse of time all that the Scriptures announce for the eschatological times, they are obliged to collapse a considerable amount of events in what seems the span of one single generation. With an "Intermediate Return" however, even though the precise sequence of events still remains unclear on many points, it is possible to fit in all that which is still to come within a duration commensurate with the abundance of scriptural data available. 173 "God should be about to fulfill the request of the Pater noster "adveniat regnum tuum" in time, and for "half-a-time", if we are to believe the Apocalypse. For this text certainly confirms the efficacy of our repeated recital of the last five words of this prayer: "deliver us of evil", insofar as we can understand it according to the Greek original as "deliver us of the Evil One". However, seemingly 99% of the theologians reason as if "the kingdom of God", of which they petition the coming when they recite the Pater, were an unrealistic demand, at least on this earth. And it is as if they wished to proscribe its accomplishment here below. And that is all the more astonishing that, at the third request of the Lord's prayer, they will ask Heaven to grant them that "His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven". This fulfilment of the will of the Father however, which is unhindered in Heaven, meets currently among us with the ill will of sinners. Should we conclude that the "Name" of God will only be truly "hallowed" beyond our earthly spheres, since on our planet this will only truly be the case for

260 MIRACLES AUTHENTICATE THE MESSAGE divine Mary, through whom he has so surely and perfectly come the first time." Such are the terms in which Grignion de Montfort expresses himself, in the book we call The Treatise of True Devotion (nos. 1, 49 and 158) to which he had given the title of "Preparation to the Reign of Jesus Christ", so very sure he was of what he advanced, in the perspective of a return intervening under the favorable auspices of Mary. It is no less certain that the prophetic character of recent apparitions is responsible for much of the scepticism that they arouse. When the future is announced, it is greeted with interest, but almost as a mere hypothesis. "Let us wait for factual confirmation" is the response. But an adhesion based on an evidence is not a commitment resting on the belief in God's Providence. The latter attitude alone is praiseworthy. And our willingness to give credence to a prophecy is as deserving as that to the apparition where it was foretold. Jesus Christ sent his disciples "two by two in all the towns and localities where he was to come". This Vangard's task was to "heal the sick" and to tell to the people: "The Kingdom of God has come near" (Lk 10, 1-9). The miracles authentified the message of these bearers of glad tidings whose accomplishment depended nonetheless on the goodwill of men. Most of them, after promising beginnings, delayed nonetheless for two thousand years, the establishment of this kingdom. But behold, the Virgin has taken up again this theme of the proximity of the kingdom of her Son! And to give weight and authority to her words she proceeds as the apostles did by working miracles of healing and of conversion. That is why we should be receptive to the messages for our times which Heaven has reiterated for our benefit at l'Escorial and elsewhere, after having already delivered them, in almost similar terms, several years before, at Garabandal. The theme of the imminence of political and cosmic upheavals is repeated as if they were about to take place. Hence, the expression of "the end of times" which the Virgin borrows from the Apocalypse. 174 The chronology of what is going to take place a tiny minority? But this would mean forgetting that the Lord's prayer is, as by providential decree, the expression of expectations within our reach... 174 The allusion to the Apocalypse is obvious: "a time and times and a

261 INCENTIVE FOR REPENTANCE belongs to the realm of divine prescience, either because Heaven wishes to provide man with the incentive for a repentance which would spare him, in all or in part, the cataclysms which have been foretold, or because, in the opposite case, "the angel of the plague", as furtive as the thief in evangelic parables, has received the order to strike the sinner in the midst of his sins as adequate retribution for his obduracy.

half time" (12, 14). In other words, a first "time" going from Adam to the Deluge; "times", which are twofold - from Deluge to Incarnation and from Incarnation to the Second Return -; and "a half-time coinciding with the thousand years (Ap 20, 2-3) during which Satan will be kept chained down in the "abyss", at least according to the interpretation of the Italian mystic Luisa Piccarreta (1865-1947). 262 CONCERNING THE ORDINARY MAGISTERIUM FORTY THREE DE MAGISTERIO ORDINARIO

t is erroneous to think that Christ will return for any other purpose than for the Last Judgment, and the reason for this is to be found expressis verbis in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Rome has spoken: millenarianism, even in its mitigated form, stands condemned. It is therefore from the very standpoint of the magisterium ordinarium and of the tradition of the Church that we must conclude that the Virgin did not appear at Garabandal, at San Damiano, or at Medjugorje, nor in any other place where the figure whom the visionaries claim is the Mother of Christ expresses herself in "millenarianistic" terms. As soon as this is acknowledged, the decision of a bishop concerning the non-supernatural character of an apparition is shown to be more than justified.175 The bishop, after all, is merely reflecting the opinion of 99% of the theologians, according to whom millenarianism, even in its mitigated form, is unacceptable. Since St. Augustine, in spite of the contrary opinion of St. Bonaventure, Nicolas of Cusa, St. Grignion of Montfort and a few other mystics, the matter is settled. Furthermore, we cannot interpret the statements of John Paul II, mentioned in the preceding chapter, as if he had been speaking ex cathedra. There cannot be an "intermediate return of Christ," inaugurating an era of peace and piety, bringing to earth an anticipatory version of the Kingdom of God, whose real coming is relegated to the eons of eternity introduced by the Last Judgment.

175 If the Virgin speaks at Medjugorje or elsewhere in "millenarianistic" terms, how can she be whom she claims to be? The scepticism of many critics is based on this argument. When a term has not been defined, it lends itself to many interpretations. The purpose of this chapter is to show that one should not read a sinister or ambiguous meaning into prophetic utterances merely because they seem mysterious. 263 APOCALYPSE 20, 4 - 6 A specific case can serve as illustration. In his book Wrath of God, The days of the Antichrist, Livio Fanzaga announces the reign of the Antichrist for the few years immediately preceding the Last Judgment.176 According to him, it is impossible and it would be unthinkable to assign the establishment of a kingdom of God, even on a temporary basis, and in a mitigated form, between the one and the other reign. He argues that an intermediate return of Christ, inaugurating a period of peace and spiritual prosperity before His Coming at the Last Judgment, would stand in contradiction to our Christian faith such as we find it authoritatively expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. According to articles 672 and 677, the case is clear, and anything else is idle speculation... 177 ̶ 4 ̶ These articles, which I will quote later on, apparently constitute a major handicap for our discernment of contemporary Marian apparitions. This is only so, however, if we read them as Fanzaga does, but his interpretation suffers from the drawback that it renders obsolete and unintelligible verses 4-6 of chapter 20 of the Apocalypse. This text teaches us that "the first resurrection" of "the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the witness of Jesus," will "reign with Christ for a thousand years." This millenarian kingdom follows the victory of the "Word of God" and of "the armies of heaven" over the "false prophet" and over "the beast," who will be "cast alive into the pool of fire that burns with brimstone" in company with the great "dragon" Satan will remain there, "bound" in chains, for the duration of

176 (Roman Catholic Books, Fort Collins, CO, 1998). So did Robert Hugh Benson in his novel of eschatological anticipation, The Lord of the World. 177 As often happens, when there is a controversy, the opponents, instead of seeking a common ground, tend to harden and exaggerate the position of whomever they disagree with. Thus, one should not insist on the contrast between the doctrine expressed by the early Church Fathers - and subsequently by many mystics - and that of St. Augustine and St. Thomas. For these two do not disagree with the former in a categorical way, and if they do not agree with them either, neither do they refute them. Their silence has been interpreted as a disapproval. Posterity has made out of an omission an explicit disavowal. Such at least is the thesis of Joseph Iannuzzi. (Cf. infra no. 181)

264 HEARKEN TO THE APOCALYPSE the kingdom, which he will afterwards bring to an end for a short while (Ap 19: 11-21 and 20: 1-3). 178 The intervention of the supernatural here is of cosmic dimensions, and the defeat of evil renders more plausible the momentary victory of the good. For this good is not so timeless that it is not of limited duration, as the sudden release of Satan from his prison for the "fights of the last days," shows. The expression used in article 672 of the Catechism would nullify the Marian prophecies if it were interpreted literally:

178 Ap 19: 11-15 & 19-21; and 20: 1-10 (extracts): "Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war... And the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, followed him on white horses.... From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God... "And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who sits upon the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who in its presence had worked the signs by which he had deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur. And the rest were slain by the sword of him who sits upon the horse, the sword that issues from his mouth; and all the birds were gorged with their flesh. "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years... After that, he must be loosed for a little while. "Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life, and reigned with Christ a thousand years... Blessed and holy is he who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years.

265 THE CIVILISATION OF LOVE Before his Ascension Christ affirmed that the hour had not yet come for the glorious establishment of the messianic kingdom awaited by Israel which, according to the prophets, was to bring all men the definitive order of justice, love and peace. According to the Lord, the present time is the time of the Spirit and of witness, but also a time still marked by 'distress' (1 Cor 7: 26) and the trial of evil which does not spare the Church and ushers in the struggles of the last days. It is a time of waiting and watching.

"And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be loosed from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the earth, God and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city; but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever." (The Holy Bible,Revised Standard Version, , New York, 2002) If the Apocalypse is "millenarianistic" in its measure of time, the Virgin, in her contemporary apparitions, is not quite as explicit. This is what she said in Venezuela on July 19, 1995: "Very soon," the devil "will be set in chains and exiled to the fire of Hell, where, for a long period of time, he will not be able to harm mankind." (Xavier-Reyes-Ayral: Un Message d'Amour: Résiac, Montsûrs, 1997, p. 98) At Schio, on August 6, 2001, Christ expresses Himself in the same way: "[The time of Satan] is coming to an end"... " ...these events, however painful they may be, will be announcing the triumph of My Mother Most Holy and the advent of my reign in all the hearts. The civilisation of love will no longer be a dream, but the everyday reality for the centuries to come." What follows, however, concerning a tomorrow which soon might be our today, is less reassuring: "My children will be [preliminarily] banned more and more from an allegedly liberal society." This is why one should prepare oneself spiritually "for these times of generalized violence. In this way, you will be stronger for the combat and ready for the new evangelisation." Jesus is announcing nothing less than "the transformation of the world...: a new world, belonging entirely to Christ, a new Church, regenerated, mother and guide of all people."

266 QUOTING THE CATECHISM If we carefully analyse the expressions emphasized in the above translation, I do not think that we shall reach the same conclusion as Fanzaga. The Virgin does not announce "a definitive order." Far from it, simply an order of a certain duration. Furthermore, she does not foresee the abolition of all "distress" or of every "trial by evil," since the future of humanity remains afflicted with the uncertainty affecting every being born in sin. Here is article 677: The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God's victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven. God's triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world. What article 677 calls "the glory of the kingdom" is what article 672 already described as the "definitive order." Contemporary Marian apparitions, however, do not announce a "definitive order", but an order of limited duration. They cannot therefore be criticized on the grounds that they would contradict the ordinary magisterium of the Church.

The message of the Virgin on August 15, 2001, echoes that of her Son: "The time of the great purification is close. The earth, sullied by the innumerable sins of men, is in need of recovering its original purity to receive the civilisation of Love. God, Himself will live among the men who have accepted his love and recognized their faults... When you practice your faith properly... [you] anticipate the new creation, and you prepare [yourselves] for your role of apostles for all those who, in numbers, will flock up towards you, thirsting for the knowledge of God" (Stella Maris, Feb. 2002,p. 25). What name should be given to this "new world, belonging entirely to Christ," where God Himself will live among men," and to this "civilisation of love" which "will be the everyday reality," if not that of this "Kingdom of God" which was announced in the Gospel? As for the modality of this - assuredly evangelical - presence of God, some people think that it will be that of the Holy Ghost operating in souls...

267 QUOTING SCRIPTURE However, there remains in the Catechism a commentary in small print which could lead to renewed difficulties. It is article 676, which follows article 675, on the "ultimate trial of the Church" and on "pseudo- messianism": The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the "intrinsically perverse" political form of a secular messianism. The bold-print section refers to a note in article 3839 of the Denzinger- Enchiridion, according to which mitigated millenarianism "cannot be taught as a doctrine that is sure." This does not mean, nonetheless, that it cannot be taught as a hypothesis. Furthermore, if millenarianism is thus placed under suspicion, the doctrine of the Millenium, properly understood, escapes from all censure. Has it not been upheld by the early Fathers of the Church, revived by a whole series of saints and mystics, and crowned, at least implicitly, by the approbation of Popes, ranging from Leo XIII to John Paul II?179 The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary that we have evoked in relation to recent prophecies, presents itself as a particular modality of eschatological predictions that are already to be found in the Bible. The precisions which they bring should not cause alarm or increase the perplexity of the faithful. Instead, they should reinforce their confidence in Mary's tutelar protection. The scriptural foundation is there, not only in the Apocalypse (19: 11-21 and 20:1- 10; 5: 8-10; 22, 20), but also in the New Testament as a whole (Mt 24: 6-14 & 21-22; Mk 13: 9-12; Mt 24: 37-41 & 24-28; Lk 21: 28; Jn 14: 20;180 Ac 1: 4-11; Rm 8: 19-23; He 9: 28; 2 Th 2: 1-10; 1 Th 5: 2-4; 1 Th 1: 9-10; Rm 13: 11-12; 1 Co 1: 7-8; Ph 4: 4- 5; 1 Tm 6: 14; 2 Tm 3: 1-5; Jas 5: 7-8; 1 P 4: 7; 2 P 3: 8-10). 181

179 On this theme, see not only the preceding chapter, but also the Conclusion, pp. 287-292. 180 "In that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you." 181 For these references, we are indebted to Mgr. Aldo Gregori: La Venue intermédiaire de Jésus dans les écrits du Nouveau Testament (Ed. du Parvis, Hauteville, Suisse, 1997). Let us examine the text of the Acts in which the 268 THE KINGDOM OF GOD Readers who had allowed themselves to be swayed by Fanzaga's arguments, should find it difficult, after consulting the above-listed references, to agree with his thesis of an "end of times" irrevocably establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth is implicitly announced. The Apostles had asked Jesus: "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?" He had answered: "It is not for you to know the times or the dates which the Father has fixed by his own authority... " "And when he had said this, he was lifted up before their eyes..." After which, two angels explain to them: "This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have seen him going up to heaven" (Acts 1: 6-11). If it is "in the same way'' that he will come back, it cannot refer to the Last Judgment. For we know that for this solemn conclave, the setting will be totally different: trumpet-calls, cohorts of angels and the Judge "sitting on his throne of glory." (Mt 25: 31) Thus, the impending return of Christ, even if it is to dignify the occasion, should be distinctly less spectacular. It will bring about, not the restoration of the kingdom of lsrael, as the apostles had thought, but the establishment of the Kingdom of God of which the State of lsrael had been a mere figure. This Kingdom will last for "half a time" (Ap 12: 14), in other words, for a symbolic one thousand years. At the end of the world, on the other hand, the return of Christ will shake the foundations of the universe and "the earth and heaven" will flee from before his face and there will be "found no place for them" (Ap 20: 11). However, this cosmic implosion will have been foreshadowed, at "the end of times" that will precede it by "a thousand years," through a "great tribulation such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now..." Matthew specifies that this tribulation, similar in its uniqueness to the Flood, will not reoccur (Mt 24: 21). If then, as he says, it "never shall be" again, does he not mean that the earth shall not be destroyed and that it shall still be inhabited? Furthermore, in Luke, chapter 21, where Christ announces, in apparent disorder, persecutions, wars and natural disasters, there comes a verse that stands out from its context in a striking way: "But when these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand" (Lk 21: 28). "Redemption from what?" asks Mgr. Aldo Gregori (cf. supra, pp. 23-24). "From life? At the price of the universal death that will precede the universal resurrection of the flesh at the end of the world? This would be ironical. Redemption from all the

269 "THE LAST DAY" and immediately associated with the End of the World. At least they should be ready to admit that it is scripturally less plausible than the messages of Mary in her recent apparitions. One can only hope that these messages will be understood as revealing the objective and explicit meaning of many scriptural passages which until today had been somewhat obfuscated by a too slavish Augustinianism. 182 Furthermore, evils upon entering eternal life? But this liberation takes place already every day for the souls who die in the state of grace, without the world coming to an end." Such at least is the reading of Gregori, for whom there is no resurrection, but that of the dead. This makes sense, as long as one reads 1 Cor 15: 51-52 according to the Vulgate: "Behold, I tell you a mystery: we shall all indeed rise, but we shall not all be changed - in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise incorruptible and we shall all be changed." However, "the reading of most of the Greek MSS is to be preferred : 'We shall not all sleep (die), but we shall all be changed.' The meaning would then be that while those who are living on the last day will not die, but must undergo the change spoken of in the previous verses, from the natural body to the spiritual body." (The New Testament.... Translated from the Latin Vulgate, St. Anthony Guild Press, Paterson, New Jersey, 1941, p. 482). Though this comment may seem convincing at first, the ambiguity of the word "sleep," could lead us to interpret the Greek MSS as meaning that the passage from this life to the next one, even though it may be instantaneous and not through a "sleep," will take place through a transmutation, in some way akin to the common lot of previous humanity. Considering the dramatic circumstances of cosmic upheaval, when "earth and heaven" shall flee "away," and no place shall be "found for them" (Ap 20: 11), the fate of those men when time comes to an end, is hardly to be envied. Thus, if we can speak of a redemption after the "great tribulation," is it not through our entry into the "civilization of love" and of justice which Paul VI announced, and therefore in the Kingdom of God on earth which constitutes one of the demands of the "Our Father"? 182 This does not mean that followers of the "Augustinian school," who are "legion," suffer from a shortage of arguments, as indicated in the following commentary of Ap 19: 11 and 20: 10: "The whole apocalyptic context and the very details of the passage show that the "thousand 270 INTERPRETING ESCHATOLOGICAL PROPHECIES the prophecies of the Old Testament, in spite of their antiquity, add to those of the New Law (which they confirm) their poetic aura: ... All that watch for iniquity are cut off. .. " (Is 29: 20) years" should not be understood literally. They are mentioned six times. They are thereby opposed to the perfect time (seven) and this suggests that they stand for the time of history, as three years and a half or such equivalents. They have to do in reality with the spiritual reign of Christ and the elect in the very time during which the Church suffers on earth strife, ordeal and persecution. But this long historical period will come to an end completely, and without the possibility of recall, with the victory of Christ and of his Church." (L'Apocalypse et ses harmonies bibliques: Ed. des nouvelles images, Lombreuil (Loiret), 1964). However, a commentary is not a proof It does not dispel the mystery surrounding the future while the orientation that contemporary apparitions give to it allow for an interpretation closer to the apparently more obvious meaning of the biblical text. Exegesis and hermeneutics, at all times, have busied themselves with the difficult interpretation of eschatological prophecies. St. John seems to have been somewhat aware of the problems that would arise. Did he not warn against the liberties that could be taken with the text of the Apocalypse, and recommend to his reader not to place too much trust in their own ideas: "I warn every one who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if any one adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if any one takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book" (Ap 22: 18- 19). As for the Virgin of the apparitions of Emmitsburg, she agrees with St. John: "The Book of Revelations... though it is the most important it is the least understood of our time." In other words, it was written for us, it was meant for us, we, the men of the XXlst century, more specifically than for all our forebears. Let us trod its paths, leading through a forest of symbols until we can read their allegorical meaning as it bears upon present-day events. Whatever the merits of the present chapter may be, they rest on the documentation supplied by the following authors: - Mgr Aldo Gregori: La Venue intermédiaire de Jésus dans /es écrits du Nouveau Testament (Ed. du Parvis, Hauteville (Suisse), 1997); - Jose Luis de Urrutia, SJ: Le temps qui vient selon les prophéties des papes,

271 APOCALYPSE NOW! And this: For I am God, ... declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, "My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose"... (Is 46: 9-10). Furthermore: Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and love will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky (Ps 85: 11-12). Then: The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall feed; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The suckling child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Is 11: 6-9). des saints et des mystiques (F.-X. de Guibert, Paris, 1997); - Patrick de Laubier: Le temps de la fin des temps, Essai sur l'eschatologiec chrétienne (F.-X. de Guibert, Paris, 1994); - Paul Bouchard: Le règne de Dieu sur la terre! Utopie ou réalité? (Spirimedia/ Parvis, Chertsey (Québec), 1994); -- Joseph lannuzi, OSJ: The triumph of God's Kingdom in the Millenium and End Times (St. Press, Havertown, PA, 1999). This last book, which has a Nihil obstat, can be considered as authoritative. It shows how the prophecies of the New and the Old Testament refer to one another and complete each other. Furthermore, it explains that in eschatological matters, it is erroneous to seek for a fundamental opposition between the doctrine of the early Church Fathers and those of more recent Doctors of the Church. For the interpretation of the recent messages of the Virgin, the scriptural texts mentioned in this chapter should be a great help. We should rely upon them to understand better what the visionaries have been telling us. One thing is certain: the Virgin in her contemporary apparitions is not in agreement with a theology which proscribes the possibility of an intermediate return of Christ.

272 "1 WILL REJOICE IN JERUSALEM" (IS 68: 19) And they will say, This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now inhabited and fortified (Ez 36: 35). I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and be glad in my people (Is 65, 19). Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation; I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever, for their own good and the good of their children after them (Jr 32: 37-39). In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying: "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you" (Zec 8: 23). If Jews were the persecutors of their fellow Jews, the first generation of Christians, it is centuries-later generations of Christians who were the persecutors of the Jews. In the end times, however, it will be Jews who will rediscover the ministry of the spoken word of which their rejection of Christ had deprived them. And once converted, they will contribute, by their apostolate, to the universal preaching of the Gospel. 183

183 Such at least is my reading of the biblical prophecies. I am aware that this is not the majority view, whose interpretation hinges on Rom 11: 25- 26: "... a hardening has come over part of Israel; until the full number of the Gentiles come in, and so all Israel will be saved ..." This text seems to say that the Jews, as a people, will be last to convert, according to the principle that "the first will be last." However, Paul wrote also these mysterious lines: "Now if their trespass means riches for the world; and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles; how much more will their inclusion mean" (Rom 11: 12). Here the collective conversion of the Jews is seen as a greater good for the world than the paradoxical benefit accruing to the world from the rejection of Christ. God alone can draw good from evil. How much greater is the profit, when good is drawn from good, not only for the Jews, but also for the rest of the world! That is why Paul can reason as follows: "For if [the rejection of the Jews] means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?" (Rom 11: 15).

273 DIALECTICS OF MERCY

Who are those "dead" that are in need of "life," if not the Gentiles that have fallen away? Theirs is the worst death of all. A less severe form of deprivation of supernatural "life" is the one arising from ignorance, as is the case for those fellow humans who are still "sitting in the shadow of death," awaiting to be evangelized? For if the falling-off of the Jews meant the conversion of the Gentiles, will not the falling-off of the Gentiles mean the conversion of the Jews? The chosen people, one way or another, thereby become the begetter of great things, and greater things in their surrender to God than in their revolt against God. The Prince of this World can read the Scriptures. He has had good cause therefore recently, through a precursor of the Antichrist, to attempt the extermination of the Seed of Abraham who will be a challenge to his kingdom.

274 CONCERNING MEDJUGOR]E FORTY FOUR DE LOCO QUI APPELATUR MEDJUGORJE

uperlatives apply to Medjugorje. In fact, for certain critics, it is too much of a good thing to be true: the very over-abundance of supposedly supernatural events offers grounds for distrust. For favourably-disposed observers, liowever, this site in Croatia can be considered the most significant contemporary place of apparitions. Not only have the apparitions been going on for a quarter of a century, but Mary has said that it would be the last place at which she would come in current times. It is also remarkable for its unequaled number of pilgrims: 30 millions to the present day. It occupies extensive space in the media, with an unusual flurry of publications, both "pro" and "contra." It has aroused intense interest among physicians, some of whom made scientific tests of the ecstatic visionaries. Its history is especially dramatic, first because of the opposition of the communist authorities in the early years, then the jurisdictional conflict between the bishop and the Franciscan priests in charge of the parish, and lastly the background of civil war, which spared the village but savaged the bishop's seat in close-by Mostar. Furthermore, Mary's insistence on a penance with two days of fast with bread and water every week provoked comment, as did her confiding of no less than ten secrets to the six visionaries. Yet, Medjugorje seems to be an almost unrivaled spiritual "success story," judging by the number of confessions heard, conversions reported and vocations to the priesthood among the pilgrims. Nonetheless, the unceasing flow of heavenly messages has aroused concern, as has the announcement of a great wonder, visible to all, on the mountain of the apparitions. Garabandal is the other location where such a prophecy had been foretold. Even if one adds that terminal diseases and drug-addictions have been cured, that many pilgrims have seen signs and that visitors are impressed by the inner peace with which they are greeted when they arrive, one will still not have reached the end of the list of remarkable

275 CARDINAL RATZINGER'S CUE things that could be said about Medjugorje. For instance, its educational impact on the people of God is invaluable, because of the assiduous repetition of Gospel truths in Mary 's messages. But all of the above-mentioned unparalleled particulars are of no avail if the local bishop does not recognize their supernatural character. As successor of the apostles he has the say in such matters. And both the bishop who was there ab initio and the present one are adamant in their conviction that the apparitions of the Virgin are not authentic. We all know the Italian expression: "Roma ha parlato, la cosa e finita." (Rome has spoken, the matter is dosed.) On the local level, "the matter is indeed closed" and should be considered ruled out. And it is this categorical imperative of the legitimate authority which cancels in one stroke all the otherwise beneficial advantages listed above and casts a pall of suspicion over Medjugorje. ̶ 4 ̶ Such, in any case, is the abrupt conclusion drawn in print by many critics, who forget that the status of Medjugorje is truly one of a kind. For it has been withdrawn as a place of pilgrimage from the jurisdiction of its own bishop, whose objections are thereby of a private nature, and entrusted to the conference of Yugoslavian bishops, whose head, Cardinal Kuharic, expressed himself in the following way in 1993: ''After three years of study, we have declared Medjugorje as a shrine and a sacred place. This means that we have no objections to a veneration of the Mother of God which remains in harmony with the teaching of the Church and our Faith... That is why we confide the question of further investigations to the Church. The Church is not in a hurry." 184 Considering the local bishop's negative stand, however, what could justify the bishops' conference's favourable decision? Their underlying logic will be better understood if we relate it to an interview Cardinal Ratzinger gave to Vittorio Messori. Questioned on the bewildering multiplication of places of apparitions, the future pope answered that "one of our decisive criteria is not to confuse the judgment on the supernatural truth of the events with the spiritual fruits." While the former is to be examined by the bishop or the Vatican, the latter are to be furthered by the priests who are on the spot. This distinction is fundamental, because since fruits are obvious, they are to be welcomed if they are good, while supernatural events are complex,

184 Quoted by Roland Noé, Chefredakteur Kath net. Linz, on page 12 of Die Tagespost of April 25, 2006. 276 TRUE FREEDOM and have to be scrutinized with due process. Cardinal Ratzinger justifies his opinion with a historical flashback. There are so many medieval sanctuaries, based on legendary traditions, that have shown themselves to be spiritually most beneficial! The hypercritical requirements of modern investigations are not as important as the evaluation of "the vitality and the orthodoxy of the religious life which is nurtured in" places of apparitions. 185 The benefits accruing from the religious vitality of Medjugorje, or elsewhere, should not be made totally dependent upon decisions resulting from long-term investigations. The Spirit is more important than the letter of the Law, according to St. Paul. And there should be some leeway given to Charismatics without their being suspected of imperiling orthodoxy. Many of the difficulties encountered today, both by the visionaries and the faithful who believe in them, would be readily dispelled if the distinction made by Cardinal Ratzinger was better known. The widespread idea that as long as the supernatural nature of a place of apparitions has not been established without the shadow of a doubt, people should be actively discouraged from going there, is as arbitrary as it is disrespectful of the autonomy of the Holy Spirit "who bloweth where he will." Just as the process of or sanctification is a slow and arduous one, and can last as long as several centuries (recall the case of Joan of Arc, canonized five centuries after her death), that of the authentications of apparitions takes time. Just as the Church does not dissuade people from asking for a miracle from yet unbeatified or uncanonized saints, it does not caution them against asking for a miracle of grace at a place of yet unrecognized apparitions. Thus, in this case as in many others, it is the opposite of prevailing opinion that is correct. The Church positively encourages its faithful in whatever prayerful initiatives they may take, 186 as long as they are "in harmony with the teaching of the Church." This is what is called "the true freedom of the children of God."

185 Renê Laurentin: Multiplication des apparitions de la Vierge aujourd'hui (Fayard, Paris, 1995, p. 42). 186 Even though she does not do so in her official capacity in places of apparitions of recent vintage. This means she welcomes pilgrimages to Medjugorje, especially with priestly accompaniment, while not initiating them personally as in the case of Lourdes or Fatima. This may seem a balancing act. But just as the Church promotes devotional practices, it does not usually originate them. Thus the devotion to the Sacred Heart 277 JOHN PAUL II AND MEDJUGORJE In other words, do not put the cart before the horse. Without discarding proven rules of common sense, give to God his due instead of waiting first for the result of deliberations which can go on for years, and sometimes even remain inconclusive. An insistence on prudence should not neutralize the character of urgency of the call to conversion, penance and prayer heard at Medjugorje. In Tre Fontane, close to Rome, where Bruno Cornacchiolo saw the Virgin in 1947, "there is an official recognition of the cult which is rendered there, but not of the supernatural character of the apparition." Whoever goes to Tre Fontane will see that effectively this cult is encouraged, as it was in 1987 by no less a person than the cardinal vicar of Rome who celebrated Mass there. Even such hallowed events as those of the Rue du Bac in Paris where, kneeling, Saint Catherine Labouré laid her hands in the lap of the Virgin, have never been the object of an official pronouncement.187 Why should we require for Medjugorje what for a hundred and fifty years, we did without at no less a church than that from which the miraculous medal originated? At least, let us take a leaf from John Paul II's correspondence to Polish friends, when he writes: "I too, daily, betake myself [to Medjugorje] in prayer: I rejoin in spirit all those who pray there, or who feel the call to prayer that is issuing from there."188 For prayer is the only cure for our present-day disaffection of belief.

was a private matter, until, convinced by the resulting fruits, Rome made it official a century after the apparitions of Paray-le-Monial. In such cases the Church adopts a wait~and-see, attitude, which, according to circumstances, can appear to be either unfavourable or friendly, until the positive evidence is overwhelming. And then she may approve what she had at first frowned upon. 187 See p. 43 of no. 185. The visionary of Tre Fontane might seem to have been the least likely person to whom the Virgin should appear, since, when she did so in 1947, not only was he, as a militant adventist, preparing an article attacking her, but also planning to murder Pope Pius XII. His conversion resulted in an about-face as sudden as that of St Paul. 188 Dec. 8, 1992: one of several similar passages in letters to Marek & Zofia Skmarnicki, quoted by Sister Emmanuel Maillard: L'Enfant caché (Ed. des Béatitudes, Nouan-le-Fuzelier, 2006, p. 390). Truly, John Paul II was yearning to go to Medjugorje, but would not slight the authority of the local bishop. 278 TALKATIVENESS IS A HUMAN WEAKNESS FORTY FIVE GARRULITAS RES HUMANA

he quantitative factor is the most objectionable feature of contemporary Marian apparitions: there are too many of them. If we take the first half of the XXth century, or the recorded history of previous centuries as the measure of a plausible frequency of supernatural apparitions, we must conclude that what has been taking place for the last fifty years under this heading is clearly "beyond the pale." The Virgin confides messages to visionaries for years, as if there were no end in sight: truly, she doth speak too much. 189 ̶ 4 ̶ Before contesting the previous argument, let me bring to the attention of those who formulate it, that they are being unduly selective in their criticisms; for already in the XVIIth century at Laus in Southern France, the visionary Benoîte Rencurel did enjoy no less than 600 apparitions of the Virgin between 1664 and 1718, "sometimes several

189 It is apparently with Heroldsbach in 1949-1952 that Mary inaugurated these series of apparitions which are noteworthy by the "quantitative factor." There were hundreds of them, they went on for three years, and on some occasions they lasted as much as ten hours. Furthermore, they were no less remarkable by the number of bystanders benefitting from marvelous signs, nor less extraordinary by the multiplicity of showings of angels and saints. But apparently, according to the French saying that "what is exaggerated is insignificant," the more wondrous the occasion, the less convincing it seemed to those who would make the decision concerning the non-supernatural character of these unusual events. This quantitative factor, which every critic sees as much an affront to common sense as to plausibility, has become a bone of contention in so many places of apparitions since Heroldsbach, that it could be their qualifying distinction. Paola Albertini, for instance, at Pederobba-Monte Monfenera, has been seeing the Virgin daily since 1986. It is true that these apparitions have only been taking place in public on the 4th of each month since 1996. This means respectively, some 7500 and 126 times. 279 THE NAZAREAN times a day, and on certain days midst crowds of pilgrims."190 However, if this is to be the exception that confirms the rule, let me proceed with my answer... We have been accustomed through the Gospels to a sobriety in speech, whether from Christ, or even more so from Mary, that we consider exemplary. Verbosity on their part would be in bad taste. We appreciate the brevitas evangelica. Does not Christ prefer to express himself in short memorable sentences, even if his astonishing hyperboles and his striking metaphors are often misunderstood? However, let us not forget that the evangelists reported but a fraction of what Christ actually said. According to John, "not even the world itself... could hold the books that would have to be written " if one had wanted to record and chronicle all of his words and deeds (Jn 21: 25). Today, in our age of communication, the messages of Mary when she appears are neither longer nor more numerous than must have been those speeches of her Son which kept crowds enthralled on the shores of Galilee. Why criticize a plentifulness which is more properly evangelical than the scarcity we might deplore? This does not mean that private communications should enjoy in our eyes the same status as public Revelation. But it is what both have in common that is here significant. Should not truth be shouted "from the rooftops"? When Christ addressed large gatherings, did he not speak in such a way as to be heard by the hearers in the last rows, thus earning the epithet under which he was known, "Jesus the Nazarean," i.e. "the Declaimer," "the Preacher"? Should he have neglected to develop, as an experienced pedagogue, those topics of which we are reading mere summaries or excerpts in the Gospels? He, the Rabbi, the Master, would he not have the fluency we would expect from someone in his calling? And with his innumerable parables, had he not conceived a method adapted to his hearers, characterized in part by repetitions, recurrences or digressions, in such a way that his teaching would remain registered in the memories of fishermen, peasants, shepherds - just as Plato, addressing the loquacious Greeks invented his "Dialogues" as the best vehicle for the expression of his philosophy? Christ, far from being a mere coiner of aphorisms, was an orator who, while he had much to say, knew that the time at his disposal was short.

190 Cf. Father Bernard Gallizia, Medjugorje, la controverse (F.-X. De Guibert, Paris, 2005, p. 50) Laus was "authenticated" on May 8, 2008.

280 WHEN QUANTITY IS QUALITATIVE In fact, it is the apparitions of today which correspond to the concept we should have of the very plentifulness and abundance of his communications. And this is appropriate. For today, the urgency of the occasion in our lives and the shortness of time at our disposal are very much the same . When the day is waning we know that darkness is nigh. Critics seem to make nonetheless of the brevitas romana a rule, a categorical imperative for Marian messages, according to which, in the light of previous centuries, today's apparitions are too numerous to be authentic, while the Virgin of old was far more discreet. 191

191 As always, when criticism is expressed, it seems justified in more ways than one, in this case by the great number of secrets confided to the visionaries, sometimes as many as ten, to one single person, as in Medjugorje. There is always a bone of contention, and the visionaries are aware of what strikes the priest as being most unbelievable. "What bothers them most," says Marija of Medjugorje, "is the frequency of the apparitions. They ask us why the Gospa has been coming for so long. All we know is that she comes, and that we see her. At first, we thought she came only because of us, or of our parish. But as time went by we understood more and more that the messages were addressed to the whole of mankind." The young visionaries having expressed their worries concerning the unexpected frequency of these visits, which were then taking place every day, Mary "answered with a smile: 'Is it that you are getting tired of me? Everything is happening according to the designs of God. Have patience, persevere in prayer and in penance. Everything takes place at the right hour..."' (a) The hour that is to come, will it be that of the departure of the Virgin? For she has announced these apparitions would be also the last of these "final times." When they "will be over, all that there will be in the world are a few false apparitions." (b) Already, on May 2, 1982, she declared (c): "I have come to call the world to convert for the last time, because afterwards, I shall no longer appear on earth." And on June 25, 1982, to the question of lvan if the "apparitions were the last of the present world ," she answered, "They are the last ones." (d) Will this consideration inhibit somewhat the critics expressing the wish that they should soon be over? (Marijan Ljubic: La Vierge Marie apparaît en Yougoslavie (Medjugorje) (Ed . du Parvis, CH-1631, Hauteville , 1984 (?); (a) pp . 63-64; (b) according to Mirjana; (c) to Vicka; (d) p. 98) .

281 THE LAST APPARITIONS But this argument based on statistical frequency is less convincing than the reality to which it is supposed to relate. One is reminded of Padre Pio's comment, when he was asked about the already hundreds of apparitions at Garabandal, and which would eventually number more than two thousand -: "How many apparitions do you need when they have already been taking place for eight months?" 192 In other words, the great Saint answered the objection by overturning the argument: "How many more times must the Blessed Virgin show herself before she is taken seriously? The scandal is not that she never gives up, but that men do not cease turning a deaf ear to her warnings." Furthermore, at El Escorial, Mary retorts in kind to her detractors: "What are men that they should say how often I can show myself?" And in Burkina-Faso she is reported to have uttered this heart-rending cry, as would a mother who is made to feel unwelcome: "If I did not love you, would I come every day to you?" 193

In the United States, the message was the same: "End of July 1996; our Lady appeared to Gianna and told her that she would be the last visionary to see her. Not the last one to begin to see her, but the last to cease to see her." (Dom Forker, Our Lady of Emmitsburg: Queenship Pub. Co., Goleta, CA, 2000, p. 148) There will thus be a contrast between the abundance of apparitions of today, which arouses suspicion, to the total penury that will follow. The devil will then take advantage of this lacuna to trap by their credulity human beings dismayed by so abrupt a transition. He will appear! 192 Jacques Serre - Béatrice Caux: Garabandal (F.-X. de Guibert, Paris, 1996 , p. 121). It is a matter of common observation that the graces received, whether of conversion or of healing, are more plentiful in a given place before the apparitions cease. Superabundance accompanies the Virgin's presence. If she keeps on appearing, is it not a token of mercy? Far from wondering, should one not rejoice about this quantitative factor? When the apparition goes on for hours, is it not so that the time be profitably spent in prayer? And when it takes place every day, is it not for the benefit of more pilgrims? 193 For El Escorial, April 15, 1984: Premier récit authentique des apparitions de l'Escorial (F.-X. de Guibert, Paris, 1996, p. 325). For the Burkina, January 15, 1994: René Bélemsida Guirma: Au Burkina, la Dame du Ciel et son Fils nous visitent et nous parlent (Ed. du Parvis, Hauteville/Suisse, 2002, p. 265). 282 MED]UGORJE: 35000 APPARITIONS "O Mother, we love you too!" In 2002 the bishop of Mostar, having reckoned how many apparitions the six visionaries of Medjugorje had experienced in the last twenty years, came up with a figure which he thought defied common sense: 16,000! More recently, having updated his reckoning, he tallied 22,000 visits of the Virgin. As of May 2006, the score should be closer to 35,000. 194 Should we be shocked or should we rejoice? In the latter case, we are reminded of the prophet Joel's timely words which St. Peter thought appropriate to repeat on evening: ''And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your shall

194 It is only with material things that quantity can be an argument against quality. But such figures as those that apply to Medjugorje have applied often enough in the past, or even in the present, to the heavenly visitations we have heard of in the lives of many Saints and Mystics, such as Padre Pio, Maria Valtorta, Catherine Emmerich, Therese Neumann, Theresa of Avila, Anna Maria Taïgi, Don Bosco, etc.... whose visions no one has ever tried to compute. For some, these were daily occurrences, just as by Vicka of Medjugorje. - "But who are you to compare Vicka of Medjugorje to some of the greatest Saints of all times?" you will perhaps ask. To which I will answer, that it is not I who am suggesting this parallel but Heaven who is heaping upon Medjugorje as many fruits of conversion as was the case in Padre Pio's San Giovanni di Rotondo. And we all know with what scepticism Padre Pio's charisms were greeted in certain influential circles of the Church when he was alive. The wonders which his followers ascribed to him were so numerous as to defy the laws of probability: there must be something wrong somewhere! "One stigmatized monk in the history of the Franciscan order is enough, and that was St. Francis of Assisi! And how can you suggest that Padre Pio is no less an important figure than St. Francis?"-"But it is not we who are suggesting this parallel but Heaven who has conferred to Padre Pio even greater gifts than to 'il Poverello.' And that is perhaps why Francis was granted a free hand by Popes, Bishops and Sultans, while Pio was persecuted by his Superiors to the scandalous point that at one time they even eavesdropped on his confessional with a hidden microphone... " Judging by the way Christ was received in his days, could not the litmus- test for authenticity be rejection?

283 "CATHOLICS IN NAME ONLY" prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy... " (Acts 2: 16-18). Indeed, the time has come. Furthermore, comparisons should be restricted to what is comparable, and previous centuries were not made of the same stuff as ours. We are witnessing the most rapid decline of faith and religious practice in the history of Christianity and the prodigious increase of the crime of homicide ‒ abortion ̶ while the Zeitgeist exercises through the media an unparalleled hold over the minds of men. If apostasy is the most categorical form of the sin against the Holy Ghost, is this bad enough to justify the intervention of the Virgin, our Mediatrix of the last resort?195 In the course of time, God has put up with much sinfulness from men, and He showed his magnanimity towards pagans preserved through their ignorance of Revelation from full responsibility; but He did not tolerate either the universal corruption which brought about the Flood, nor the prevarications which led to the Babylonian exile, nor the obduracy of lsrael which caused its millenary dispersion among the nations. If he rejected the sons of election in favour of those of adoption, how will he punish the Gentiles if they in turn reject their calling? 196 We, the

195 If one had to summarize this teaching which, according to circumstances, is neither lacking in substance nor in diversity, it would be that of the urgency of the occasion and of the need of prayer. "My Son is readily swayed by mercy," this well-known sentence underlies all of the Virgin's demands. Not only does she incite those present to recite the rosary, but she also provides the occasion for which they should spend enough time at it. Has one considered the spiritual benefits arising for the whole Christian community from such a sustained prayer, from this oratio continua? The Church is already enjoying the helpful succour of the laus perennis of monks and nuns. But lay-people, whose orisons are usually constantly exposed to interruptions, discover in a place of apparitions a temple of devotion..., 196 "Most people have apostatised their Faith; they call themselves Catholics, but ignore Doctrine... " The Blessed Virgin to the visionary of El Escorial on Feb. 6, 1993. (Gabriel: Premier récit authentique des apparitions de l'Escorial· F.-X. de Guibert, Paris, 1996 , p. 351 .

284 A RENT IN THE CHURCH Christian nations, benefited from the heritage until then set aside for the chosen people; but when we renounce it, we rejoin Israel in its refusal of the Messiah. Should not the sanction of forthcoming trials prove to be as implacable for us as it was for those whose very inconstancy we emulated? Is it not possible that we too shall be rejected, so that Israel, having so to speak "atoned" for its past by the martyrdom of one third of its children, in Auschwitz and elsewhere, will be in measure to witness the accomplishment of the prophecy of Zecharia: "In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirts of him that is a Jew, saying: We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you" (8: 23)? Speaking of the Holocaust, one shall soon be able to speak of the seed of martyrs from which a harvest of conversions will follow. For these victims, if they were not all witnesses of a faith which was no longer theirs, were nonetheless implicitly those of a mission confided to their people of whose double tragic finality they were not aware. They ignored the first finality, as a consequence of the unperceptiveness of their forefathers, and the second one, for their own lack of discernment; for how could they, without believing in Christ, ever fulfill the function of apostles of the rest of the world, which, according to St. Paul, is to be theirs? Extraordinary times call for extraordinary remedies. Can we be sure that Heaven has not chosen the moment of the greatest need for its greatest display of compassionate mercy? And through its most effective means: the Virgin. Is it not she who intervened already several times in the course of history, such as at Lepanto to save Christianity from the Ottoman Turks, and at Fatima to save the West from the communist peril? What is she striving to save us from now, if not from what Pope John Paul II has been fervently trying to prevent: the loss of faith in God's own Church? 197

197 1n her apparitions, there is a theme to which the Virgin returns time and again: "My little ones, remain united with the Pope. A great rent will occur within my Church." From the public message to the visionaries of Venezuela of Nov. 6, 1993 (Xavier Reyes-Ayral: Un message d'Amour (Résiac, Montsurs, 1997, p.183). If I might be so bold as to seem to correct a statement of the Virgin, I would say that this "rent" has already occurred, even though it is not quite as obvious as it will be.

285 "TEMPUS MAR1Æ" To take a stand on principle against apparitions or to argue for them involves, implicitly, a reading of divine intent. Is this presumptuous or normal? Aren't we as Christians constantly called upon to interpret signs and wonders? Pascal's superb quotation seems a most appropriate conclusion: "If God sent us his messengers, we should surely listen to them; events are those messengers." And they are clearly signifying that we are living in the time of mercy alloted to us by God's Providence under the tutelage of Mary: "Tempus Mariae." 198

In our Western countries, most Catholics have no qualms upon admitting that on such or such a point they have ceased to agree with the Faith of their forefathers. Two thirds of the faithful questioned in a survey mentioned that they did not believe in the "Real Presence." What is in store for tomorrow is probably a break based not only on dogma, but also on the acknowledgement of being Christian. What had merely been implicit, or papered-over with goodwill, will expand into a fullblown rejection. l98 "This time is my time," declares Mary at Medjugorje on Jan. 25, 1997: "And that is why... dear children, I invite you further to prayer." (Quoted by David Plunkett: Heaven Wants to be Heard; Fowler Wright Books, Leominster, Herefordshire, 1997, p. 141) "Our epoch is the epoch of the Immaculate as others say that it is the epoch of the Holy Ghost," wrote Father Kolbe on March 15, 1936 (Quoted by Patrick du Laubier: Le temps de la fin des temps: F.-X. de Guibert, Paris, 1994, p. 83). That is why, whatever the problems of the hour, we should say with the mystic Julian of Norwich, ''All is well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well."

286 "1 WILL POUR MY SPIRIT UPON ALL FLESH" CONCLUSION

And Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the nations be fulfilled. Even so, when you see these things coming to pass, know that the Kingdom of God is at hand (Lk 21: 24, 31).

t the beginning, the Dragon drew down in his fall "a third of the stars of heaven," those angelic beings whom men are called upon to replace in God's following. Hence the invitation to sanctity is addressed to these pauca minus ab angelis who are asked to be "perfect, as also [the] Heavenly Father is perfect."199 Now is the time to which the prophecy applies: ''And it shall come to pass in the last days, says the Lord, that I will pour forth my Spirit upon all flesh" (Jl 3: 1-2). The very apostasy of the "great number" will then be of advantage to the "small number," since the "faithful servants" will receive, beyond those "talents" which they themselves have increased and multiplied, the supernumerary ones "taken away" from the "wicked and the slothful" who "had hidden them in the earth." And one can readily imagine cohorts of angels busily engaged in digging out of the earth the talents, unprofitably hoarded up by the spiritually miserly, for redistribution to the deserving (Mt 25: 14-30)! Nothing of what comes from God is wasted. The future profits from the past. Thus will the believers of tomorrow benefit, by providential adjudication, from the collective apostasy of the secularised nations of today. For such are, in other terms, the expectations of our XXth century Popes. Leo XIII, in somewhat conditional terms, opened the way:

198 "Thesepauca minus ab angelis" are "beings who are slightly inferior to angels," in other words, they are men.

287 "COME LORD JESUS" ... the splendors of faith shall reappear, the swords will fall and the weapons will slip from the hands when all men accept the dominion of Christ and will submit to it with joy, and when "every tongue confesses that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father." (Annum sacrum) As for Pius XI, he declares that the institution of the feast of Christ, King of the Universe, announces "the joys of the day when the human race of its own accord will submit to the very sweet sovereignty of Christ-the-King." (Miserentissimus Redemptor) With Pius XII, the outline is more precise: How many hearts, O Lord, are expecting you! How many souls are pining away to hasten the day when you will live and reign alone in the hearts? Come Lord Jesus, there are so many signs that your return is close. (Speech on the mystery of Easter 1957) As another Hegel, he calls upon History, but on a history favourable to the designs of the true Spirit: The birth, be it painful and prolonged, of a new life, of a humanity in constant progress in order and harmony, is the goal assigned by God to the history "post Christum natum" (AD), to which all the sons of God who have been made free will have to contribute personally and actively. (Radio-message of Christmas 1957) John XXIII, about to convoke the Council, expresses "the definite resolution to return to certain ancient forms of doctrinal affirmation." Did he intend to revive the belief in the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth, formerly entertained by the Apostles and celebrated by the early Church Fathers? In his eyes, the aim of Vatican II is to level "the road leading to the unity of mankind, the necessary foundation for making of the terrestrial city the image of the heavenly city." And John XXIII evokes this theme once more in his speech for the closing of the first session of Vatican II, by prophesying that the "new long expected Pentecost" is none other than "a new leap forward of the kingdom of God in the world." Paul VI, more precisely, opposes to "the civilisation of hatred" of our times this "civilisation of love [that] will overcome the fever of relentless social conflicts and give to the world the so long awaited

288 "I WANT TO REIGN" transfiguration of the ultimately Christian humanity." 200 But as we have already seen in chapter 42, it is John Paul II who reveals, on the occasion of the Jubilee which marks the passage from the Second to the Third millenium, the very "fullness of meaning" and "the eschatological implication" of this "civilisation of love," announced by Paul VI. does not this latter expression describe to perfection the kingdom of God that we all hope for? Paul Bouchard sees in it "the intuition that humanity is soon going to make its entry into the kingdom of God." 201 And John Paul in Redemptoris Missio obviously shares the same conviction: "The plan of God is to build a kingdom of peace and justice already in this life. Such is the biblical prospect of "new heavens and a new earth" (Is 65: 17; 2 P 3: 13; Ap 21: 1). This theme, from one pope to the next, develops further into heavenly strains when contemporary mystics take it up. Our Lord told to Josefa Menendez, "I want to reign." "I want to forgive souls and nations. I want to reign over nations and over the whole world. I want to spread my Peace until the extremities of the earth... I am Peace. I shall reign!" 202 With Mgr. Ottavio Michelini (+ 1979), Jesus is even more explicit: "... As it was said: 'At the end, the merciful Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph'... This is the way in which the advent of my reign on earth will take place ... It will be, in other words, my intermediate coming... [which] will be invisible, in contrast to my

200 Documents pontificaux de Paul VI (Discours de clôture de l'Année Sainte), Ed. St. Augustin, (Suisse), 1979, t. 14, p. 790. These social conflicts are unavoidable in an economy where the interests of capital and labour are conflictual, because they do not rest in the same hands. When will ownership and toil be shared and fulfilled by one and the same person? The utopias of state capitalism or unbridled liberalism have long enough ridden rough-shod over the distinctive rights of the human person which can best find their accomplishment in what has only been timidly attempted up to now: a social structure responsabilizing the individual because he has his share in both work and property. 201 Le Règne de Dieu sur la terre! Utopie ou réalité? (Ed. Plurimédia/ Parvis, Hauteville (Suisse), 1994, p. 145),which is a book to which I am indebted. Cf. also chapt. XIII of Paul Bouchard's Les papes-prophètes du monde nouveau for the quotations of the popes in this Conclusion. 202 Op. Cit., p. 148.

289 "MY INTERMEDIARY COMING ... WILL BE INVISIBLE " first and my last coming, both of which are visible... [It] will constitute the Reign of Jesus in souls." 203 Even though the Coming will be invisible, the Reign will nonetheless be obvious, and Maria Valtorta paints it in glowing colours: O! My gifts! They will be felicitous for you! You will know neither famine, nor massacres, nor calamities. Your bodies, and even more souls, will feed on my manna; the earth will seem to rise again for a second creation, entirely new, in an atmosphere of peace and concord between the nations and of peace between heaven and earth, because I will pour on you plentifully of my Spirit, who penetrates you and gives you the supernatural sight of God's decrees. It will be the Reign of the Spirit. The Reign of God, the one you ask for... in the "Our Father." Where would you want the Reign of God to come if not in your hearts? That is where my Reign on Earth must begin. A mighty reign, but nonetheless limited. 204 Is it not meet, just and appropriate that the mission of announcing the second coming of Christ has been especially entrusted to Mary? Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort expresses this forcefully:

203 Id. p. 157-158. Mgr. Michelini reports the following words of Christ: "I confide to you once more, my son, the news of this hour of purification after which there will be a new Sky, a new Earth and a new Church. The decisive intervention of my Mother, Queen of Victories, will appear as evident to all, as will my own power and glory, true God and true Man. A new era will follow in the history of mankind." (p. 158). "My intermediary coming ... will be invisible," says our Lord here. But should we interpret literally the expressions used by the various prophets concerning this return of Christ? This would seem appropriate if, from one mystic to the next, uniformity had been the rule. This is hardly the case, however. Gianna Talone-Sullivan of Emmitsburg, for instance, says that Christ will show himself "as a young child," while other visionaries mention a huge cross in the sky, visible for the whole world, or, according to Luz Amparo, "Jesus will appear resplendent to all who shall be devoted to God and to his Very Holy Mother." (L'Escorial Messages 1992-1998: Association Vierge des Douleurs, F-64170, 1999, p. 10) 204 À l'aube d'une ère nouvelle, Prophéties de Jésus confiées à Maria Valtorta (Centro Editoriale Valtortiano - Ed. du Parvis, Hauteville (Suisse), pp. 82-83, in chapter 28, "Après la chute de !'Antichrist: la Paix de Dieu.")

290 "THE NEW TERRESTRIAL JERUSALEM " If therefore, as it is certain, the knowledge and the reign of Jesus Christ will come to this world, it will only be as a necessary consequence of the knowledge and the reign of the most Holy Virgin Mary who gave birth to him the first time and will make him known the second time. This sentence, which summarizes in three lines the thesis of this book deserved to figure in its conclusion. Let us quote therefore the "little voices" to which our Mother or her Son entrusted their messages, with St. Michael's occasional intervention. Thus spoke Mary to Gladys Quiroga de Motta, at Saint Nicolas in Argentina, on Dec. 25, 1988: Jesus came to this world out of Love and His Second Coming for His greater Glory will also take place because of Love. 205 At Cochamba, in Bolivia, the Archangel reveals to Catalina in 1996 that "... a new Kingdom is being prepared for the Church and for the souls... The new terrestrial Jerusalem shall be as the commencement of the celestial Jerusalem." 206 At Manduria, in Puglio (South Italy), in 1993, Debora conveys the following words on the part of Christ: I come to bring to earth the "New Pentecost". My project is to bring about the arrival of my Reign on earth as in heaven; She will soon descend in the midst of you, the New Jerusalem. 207 And, on the part of the Virgin: I call upon everybody to proclaim that God is alive and that he is on the road of his return. Soon... the divine Light of the Very Holy Trinity will irradiate this earth and render her resplendent with purity. Then my Son will come back to establish the glorious Reign of His Father. 208

205 René Laurentin: Lire la Bible avec Marie, Messages de Notre Dame du Rosaire à San Nicolas (F.-X. de Guibert, Paris, 1993, p. 378) 206 La Grande Croisade de /'Amour, Messages de Jésu à Catalina (Ed. du Parvis, Hauteville (Suisse), 1999, p. 295. 207 Christian Parmantier – André Castella: Manduria Ed. du Parvis, Hauteville (Suisse), 1999, pp. 123- 126). 208 Id., pp. 145, 114-115.

291 "I WILL REJOICE IN JERUSALEM" (IS 65:19) What can be added after these quotes, if not the words of the Angel addressed to Mary concerning her Son and which she herself repeats when she appears here and there: "He shall reign." For it can be said that He shall reign in a setting commensurate to His greatness, as was appropriately prophesied by Isaiah (65: 17) who places the following utterance in God 's mouth: For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.

If the references supplied are deemed untrustworthy because the visionaries mentioned have not (yet) been recognized, let me add that their prophecies are alike in content to so many others! Speaking in broad terms, these predictions are very much the same, whether they come from Garabandal, towards which the bishop of Santander was more than reticent, or from El Escurial, towards which the archbishop of Madrid, was more than favourably inclined. Once again, circumstances can be detrimental or opportune; bishops however, as they come and go, tend as a rule, as times passes by, to be more impressed by the good fruits that they notice than distressed by the problematic character of what had seemed a novelty...

292 APPENDIX

Or topics on which the author is unable to restrain himself from commenting additionally.

293 THE LESSON OF THE FIG TREE

294 "1 DO NOT NEED TO" AND CONCERNING FEMINISM FORTY SIX "ID NON MIHI OPUS EST" ATQUE DE FEMINISMO

pparitions of the Virgin had been reported. A priest was asked on television if he would go there. He answered: "I do not need to." Here is a man of the cloth for whom the hypothetical character of unproven apparitions acts as a deterrent. So many priests, when asked, would respond in the same way. It is as if they said: "Sensationalism is not for me! Let those who are attracted by novelty or who want to decide for themselves follow the crowds of curiosity-seekers. Whoever wants to pray can do so at home just as well or at the parish Church!" It may be fashionable among Catholics in countries like Germany or the US, where the Protestants set the tone, to minimize the role of , 209 especially when the latter are related to apparitions which, because they are contemporary, are still hypothetical. ̶ 4 ̶ "I do not need to" or "I do not have to." This response may seem more than justified. It does not correspond, however, to the heart of the matter. For any report of Marian apparitions should be seen in the context of present events. "The signs of the times" are such that they give a deeper significance to charismatic occurrences. "From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near" (Mk 13: 28). Or again: "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, 'A shower is coming'; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say: 'There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know

209 It is true that Luther himself had neither wished nor foreseen that the devotion to the Virgin, to which he had only intended to assign limits which he thought reasonable, would one day be held in suspicion by his disciples. Nonetheless, it is he who initiated the process of marginalisation and progressive exclusion of the Mother of God which has become commonplace in Protestant piety and liturgy.

295 THE SEAL OF THE ELECT how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?" (Lk 12: 54-57). Christ's tone is harsh, because he is addressing the Pharisees. ''Appraising the times" belongs to the virtue of discernment. What is this "light" that must not be put beneath a "bushel"? It is the revelation made to us of the accomplishment of God's plan for "this generation." For it is for us as for these "children" in the days of Christ, upon whom "may come all the righteous bloodshed on earth from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah," up to that of the Messiah himself (Mt 23: 35). Our generation may be the one that will have to pay for the twentieth century apostasy of the Christian nations... "The fathers having eaten green grapes, the sons' teeth will hurt." The warnings of the Virgin in recent apparitions are addressed to all, since we are all concerned. Even if each of us cannot betake himself to wherever she is appearing, we are nonetheless advised and enjoined to take into account what she is saying. Here are some quotes from El Escorial in Spain, whose reference to Scriptural texts is obvious: "Be ready to receive the seal of the elect" (April 4, 1985). "Come to this place, where you will be blessed and will be marked with a cross on the forehead... Raise up all these objects, they will all be blessed with special

210 Cf also Gabriel: Premier récit authentique des apparitions de l'Escorial (F.-X. de Guibert, Paris, 1996, pp. 333-334): "I want them to come to this place so that all their foreheads may be sealed; so that, when the Day comes, which is now impending, they may be not overtaken by the enemy, because of the sign of the elect... " " ... you will see it on one another on the day of the Chastisement... " "Satan is also busily marking (his own) and wants to lay hold of the major part of mankind" (April 4,1985). Election up to now had been a well-kept secret That it shall soon be made manifest, if only briefly, in a visible way, is astounding news. But besides this revelation, there are for the denizen of the present times, many obvious hints of an exclusive choice. On what side is he or she of the great divide between pro-life and pro-choice voters? But that is only the first step. The next one is as decisive. It leads to the ever-widening gap between the upholders of tradition and the followers of liberalism. For truth is ever new and therefore rooted in the past, where Revelation

296 A SOCIOLOGICAL REVOLUTION benedictions for the Day of darkness" July 3, 1999). 210 These words evoke the seal "upon the forehead" of the "servants" of God, which will preserve them from the harm that is to befall the rest of mankind, while the sun turns as "black as sackcloth" (Ap 7: 2-4 and 6: 12). For Matthew warns us that "the sun will be darkened" while "the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven" (24: 29). On this "day of darkness," many other Scriptural texts are both premonitory and precise. (See for instance Jl 1: 15; 2: 2; 2: 10; 3: 15.) The mystics too have long since forewarned that a judgment will be exercised upon the nations in the "last times." Tribulations in turn are profitable to those who are not tried in vain, even at the price of martyrdom, like the early Christians. But for most of us the urgency of the moment seems of little concern, since we are not aware that the return of the Son of Man is nigh. Too many sects have created a following by quoting eschatological predictions of impending disasters, and the credulousness of their disciples reinforces our scepticism towards millenarianism. But, whatever the uncertainties of the future, we cannot live apart from our times. Let us only consider for a moment the actual premonitory signs of imminent upheavals, the most striking of which could be Israel's return to the Promised Land. Furthermore, we are witnessing a sociological revolution, which no one can deny, but of which few seem to perceive the real implications. Atheistic humanism generates a moral laxity whose ultimate aberration consists in woman's denial of her own natural condition... Since the Fall at the onset of history, the daughters of Eve have suffered most from the part she herself played in the Fall. This is all the more paradoxical that it is the sons of Adam who have been leading belongs, while the modernity of liberalism has its own share of the future - unhappily, a negative one, that of the subversion of values and the subjectivity of morality. The invitation of Christ is explicit: "My children, let your guardian angels mark your forehead with my seal. All those who come in this place will be marked with the seal and blessed" (August 1, 2002). Was there ever an offer more generous? Let it be known that Jesus insists that we should take the trouble to come. (L'Escorial Messages 1992 -1998 : Association Vierge des Douleurs du Pré-Neuf de l'Escorial, F-64170 Artix, 1999, p. 54; our emphasis) 297 THE COMING OF AGE OF "THE SECOND SEX" humanity from bad to worse. For it is men who were the prominent free- thinkers of the last four centuries, women having only recently become influential in the media. However, in the growing inversion of values, the "second sex" has now made up for lost time, with such writers as Simone de Beauvoir, Germaine Greer and Betty Friedan, or political figures such as Bella Abzug and Simone Veil. These celebrities have demanded and assumed, in the name of "women's liberation," an amoral pragmatism which politics have since institutionalized. And it looks very much as if they had unwittingly actualized the prophecy of St. Vincent Ferrer, according to which it is on the day when women dress and behave as men that a great chastisement will befall mankind: "Let you be warned that in those times, women, dressed as men, will behave as they please, licentiously, and men will dress vilely as women." Until then, it could be said, according to the records of history, that what had been wrong with the world was mainly man's doing. For it is men that fought wars, and it is through them that homicide, whether collectively or individually, had become a way of life. This blood-letting, however, has taken on a new twist today, since it is that of the unborn, most of which is done at the request or with the consent of the mother. 211 Is not abortion the ultimate attempt to uproot "the tree of life"? Thus, it is with the conscious and deliberate cooperation of both partners, that society has renounced the promise of posterity registered in the sexual difference.

211 In France, there are twenty times more men than women in jail, because women are less likely to break the law. Now, however, they have chosen to take an equal part in acts of violence: they have demanded and obtained, thanks to a very effective feministic propaganda, the legalisation of infanticide "in utero," which they practice henceforth with a frequency which is comparable, by the number of its victims, to the most murderous wars and the most deadly plagues. The giver of life has become the giver of death! "Be ye persuaded that there is before me no greater crime than this one," declares Christ to Agnès-Marie in La Joie de Dieu. (Résiac, Montsûrs, 2000 p. 29) The more defenceless the victim, the more unnatural the offence, and the greater the sin! To kill another of the same gender, had been a specifically masculine aberration. Now that abortion is, in many lands, a mode of selection of the sex of the child, to kill another of the same gender, has become current feminine practice, as is the case in countries, such as India or China, where girls are depreciated in favour of boys. From this bias, a foreseeable demographic 298 DIVERSION OF THE FEMININE VOCATION If in the very beginning, the initiative of sin came from Eve, it is the sons of Adam who through the centuries have shown, in terms of killing, the greater inclination to subvert the natural order. But having reached "the end of times," after those millenia of male domination from which women have liberated themselves, it is now in a spirit of emulation that Eve's daughters have attempted to imperil the future of the species. Sex is popular, engendering is not. How will woman, however, "be saved through childbearing," according to the expression of St Paul (1 Tim 2: 15), if she refuses motherhood? 212 imbalance will result, whose sociological and moral consequences will be calamitous. When today's Chinese babies will reach adulthood, the surplus one hundred million men will search in vain for suitable partners. Dare we ask how this feeling of collective frustration might express itself? 212 Is it not significant that the devil, "a murderer from the beginning," should have addressed himself first to Eve for the subversion of mankind, as if he envied in this being of flesh her faculty of reproduction of these "images of God" which are her children? Committed to evil by his initial revolt, his ontological sterility rejoined his incapacity to do good, and this double inability affected him all the more that Eve, as a woman, enjoyed the promise of an immeasurable fulfilment. After millenia of frustration, he was hoping, through a second subversion, to inculcate in womankind the irremediable fault of the non-propagation of a species which he considers rival to his own. God wished therefore that the Virgin, this second Eve, prevent through her intervention, this almost terminal moment in history, that the diversion of the feminine vocation frustrate the realisation of a community of "brothers and sisters of Christ," whose number might attain "a third of the stars of heaven" (Ap 12: 4). At Schio, for the feast of the Holy Innocents on December 28, 2000, the Virgin gives us an insight into the consequences resulting from the modern women's prodigious abuse of Natural Law: "Life, my children, life! The refusal of life is the most serious sin. It provokes the greatest torment in the souls. "Yes, dear children, this generation will witness and participate in the disastrous consequences from which Europe will suffer for having betrayed God." (Stella Maris, March 2001, p. 21) Immanent justice is as unforgiving as demography. The Roman Empire, suffering from a 500 year decline of the birth-rate, fell from 60 to 30 million inhabitants, only to disappear as a cultural community when the Goths arrived. Could not the same fate befall Europe within fifty years, 299 SEXUALITY, THWARTED OF ITS OBJECT She has joined her mate in his lethal lie of a world without God. Are enough sane elements left for the survival of religious practice? Hence Christ's warning: "When the Son of Man returns, will he still find faith on earth?" The fall-off of faith coincides with moral decline, and sexuality, thwarted of its object, lays claim, as would a deadly ideology, to its own share of victims. And it has obtained them, according to St. John's prophetic vision of the "great harlot sitting on a scarlet beast ... holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations ... drunk with the blood of the martyrs... " (Ap 17: 1-6). This eminent whore, "full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication," who leads through her office the sacrifice of her own progeny, has rejoined Herod in the massacre of a new generation of Holy Innocents... 213 because of the unavoidable immigration from the Third World? Figures are eloquent. Muslims are the only group whose fertility rate has not been noticeably reduced by modernity. In India for instance, Christian women average 2.4 children, Hindu women 2.8, while Moslem women have 4.8. There are now 35 million Muslims in Europe. There is a reason for the insistence of the Virgin of Medjugorje saying: "Do not be afraid to have children, you should rather fear not to have any." For the visionary Mirjana adds mysteriously: "When the secrets will be revealed, one will understand why it was necessary to have many children." Can we assume that the "secrets" confided to her have to do with the seven plagues announced in the Apocalypse? (Chap. 16). (Soeur Emmanuel: Medjugorje, les années 90... Ed. des Béatitudes, Burtin, 1996, p. 144)? 213 If we outline the history of this rejection of God on the part of Woman, we obtain the following schema. The first phase, which was decisive, starts with the Fall, the consequences of which were so calamitous that repentance ensued and Woman assumed through a long bondage the penitential outcome of her fault. In the second phase, however, the initial revolt is relived in a spirit of protest. For Woman, having taken the lead for Original Sin, did atone for it more, one could say, than Man, until, ashamed of this abasement, she regretted having to pay so heavy a price, and recently took up the lead of the spirit of revolt of modern times. According to Maria Valtorta - clarifying an intuition of St. Augustine - original sin consisted in our first parents wanting to make love as beasts do, even though in their preternatural state, another mode of physical

300 "TO PLAY THE BEAST" How could it be possible, in the present situation, for us "not to need" Mary, she, the mediatrix, the coredemptrix, the dispenser of all grace, the of the new Adam? 214 communion had been foreseen. She was thereby repeating St. Augustine, who argued that sins of the flesh, even if they are not the most serious of all, are nonetheless the most numerous, so that we should relate our greatest inclination to sin back to the fault at the origin of all faults. Thus, it is through a sexual aberration, that Eve fell from her early quasi- angelic condition : Today, the circle is closed. Woman, having in the past "played the beast" at her own expense, yearns henceforth for sterility, and intends "to play the angel" by not perpetuating the species to which she belongs... Through her first sin, she discovered concupiscence, in other words the inordinate lust for pleasure. She disbelieved that by sowing concupiscence, she would reap death. She was soon to find out that she had been mistaken... Thus, according to Maria Valtorta, "Satan did not want [Eve] to know the joy of giving life without concupiscence... and without pain... [a] joy that [would have been] only slightly inferior to that of angels... "(L'Évangile tel qu'il m'a été révélé, I, p. 41-42) By discovering concupiscence, Eve discovered death for herself and for her posterity. Today, through her own initiative, she associates lust with death when, as a crowning refinement, she refuses life to the fruit of her womb. Is it not as if she were telling God: "I am paying you back: I destroy your image present in this child; I take on the immanent justice that brought me death; and this death which is the price of sin, I inflict it in turn on the life that I am entrusted to transmit "? Or else, through contraception, she chooses to be sterile, thus rendering herself unfit for this collaboration with God which is the conception of a child. She "plays the angel" by not perpetuating the species to which she belongs ... The revealing statement of Simone de Beauvoir comes to mind, as friends made the offer to bring up for her any child she might have with Sartre: "I do not need another me, I am self-sufficient. And I do not need another Sartre; he suffices me." The modern couple refuses the complement that would make of their partnership a trinitarian relation in conformity with the divine model. Their uniqueness is so perfect that it should not be shared. Thus to refuse children is to refuse God. 214 Maria Valtorta: " ... Just as Eve was united to Adam in sin, thus Mary

301 "The great harlot... sitting on a scarlet beast... drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." (Ap 17: 1-7), according to Dürer (detail)

302 "1 DO NOT NEED TO GO THERE" The priest, however, which we mentioned previously, with his "I do not need to," is not countering theology, but merely present-day apparitions. Nonetheless, all that has to do with Mary leads to her, as the gifts lead to the giver. When Mary shows herself, can one omit to ask the reason for this return of she qui assumpta fuit? There are reasons enough for this return, and for this procession of the heavenly retinue accompanying its Queen, usually invisibly. Our negligence in enquiring into the contents of her communications shows a remarkable disregard for what is of utmost interest, since these messages proceed from the creature who should be most dear to us. Did not the angel of Fatima teach us the devotion of the first Saturdays of the month in expiation for the sin of neglect towards Mary? The child who does not remember its mother, the soul who does not recall the blessings received, should both be reminded that they are in debt and that gratitude, which is the most neglected virtue of all, is also the most appreciated in Heaven. "I do not need to go there," says this priest, when asked about a place of contemporary Marian apparitions. However, it is hardly appropriate to question his reasons, for no judgment can be formulated on such personal matters. But if a sinner - for who is without sin? - does not need to undertake this journey, does he stop to think that the Virgin, on her part, may have need of him? For it is as Mother of the Church that she begs for prayers from the community of the faithful. 215

(the new Eve) is united to Christ (the new Adam) in the Redemption of mankind. "It is the so-called principle of 'requital,' through which Redemption is the reversal of sin: 'The requital of God"' (Il Poema..., I, p. 35, cf. infra). " ... As evil entered the world through woman, it is fitting that good should enter the world through 'the Woman.'" (Il Poema dell'Uomo Dio IV, 855) (Gabriel Roschini, La Vierge dans l'oeuvre de Maria Valtorta: Ed. Kolbe, Montréal, 1983, p. 178-179). There is a double restoration of the good through Mary: the first time, through her Fiat; the second time, through the intervention of her Immaculate Heart on the dawn of the second return of the Word. Looking at the problem from another point of view, we will observe that if Satan provoked Eve's downfall, she took her revenge on him through her role as a mother. But today's Eve seems to have forgotten this. 215 At El Escorial the Virgin assured us that "if all consecrated souls recited the rosary daily, all souls would be saved." (Gabriel: Premier récit

303 SPREADING THE GOOD NEWS Let us be reminded that those who interpret charisms according to God 's will are more important than those who receive them. 216 What is at stake is the credibility of the communications from Heaven. For they require for their diffusion the cooperation no less of the clergy than of the faithful. If God has a project, should we not rejoice at having a share in its accomplishment? Are we aware of the honour entailed? The Virgin calls on us! Yet we would neglect to respond to her invitation and forsake the minimal but indispensable contribution of our prayers! We should not forget the task of spreading the good news that today she is here, there and almost everywhere, to be reached and to be honoured.

authentique des apparitions de l'Escorial, F.-X. de Guibert , Paris, 1996, p. 326). Singular and admirable efficaciousness of the prayer of priests and religious! The "consecrated" have a treasure within reach! I am not implying that whoever does not go to a place of apparitions will thereby incur a divine sanction, as if by a relation of cause and effect. It is important to stress, however, that the Virgin often repeats that she has her hands full of graces whose reception is related to one's presence in the place she is honouring with her visit. "The queen of the South... came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of , and behold, a greater than Solomon is here" (Lk 11: 31). Do not these words of Christ in his time apply also today to Mary at Medjugorje or Ostina, just to mention these two? The tragedy about having to do without something that one needs is that one is usually only aware of what one was lacking once the need has begun to be satisfied. In the same way, most of the faithful only miss the Virgin in retrospect once they have had an experimental knowledge of the solace and the benefits her devotion brings to the soul. A start has to be made. 216 Cf. Mon enfant, Petit traité de la Grâce (Ed. du Parvis, Hauteville, Suisse, 1999, p. 42)

304 OSTINA

Our Lady of Reconciliation Ostina in Italy

Visionary Silvana Orlandi

305 PEDEROBBA

Mary Queen of the Guardian Angels Monte Santo Monfenera, Pederobba

Visionary Paola Albertini

306 CONCERNING FEMINISM (BIS) FORTY SEVEN DE FEMINISMO (bis)

omen's lib' has freed women of such discriminating practices as unequal salary for equal work and brought about a social awareness of the equality of the genders. Why should the Church clash with a movement responsible for such achievements? Feminism has corrected aberrations resulting from millenia of male supremacy and macho prejudice. Is it not time that its voice be heard in ecclesiastical circles? ̶ 4 ̶ Every century of Church History suffers from its own specific problem. Towards the year 1500, in the Church, an elite was yearning for a change within the bounds of tradition: Lefèvre d'Etaples, Savonarola, Erasmus were asking for a return to the simplicity of the Gospel. There were scandals enough, and abuses seemed legitimized by customary practice: princes were buying bishoprics for their sons; bishops neglected to reside in their diocese; laymen became titular abbots; popes had fathered children. Instead of the long-awaited and expected reform, however, there came a revolution which took on a name it was not entitled to, and which could have applied only to the later "Counter-reformation." What we today call the Reformation, however, channeled and misapplied into a hazardous theology the latent dynamics of improvement. Without Luther's genius for speculative or tactical improvisation, the outcome would have been different. The devil can graft what is bad onto what was initially well-meant when he finds an ally in the pride of men and the spirit of the times. It is very much the same today, when what is called "the spirit of the council" disavows in practice what it pretends to uphold in theory, and draws from the texts of Vatican II conclusions in contradiction with their meaning. 217 Nothing is more obvious in this regard than a liturgy

217 This misuse of the intention expressed by the Council fathers was soon apparent. In 1970, Cardinal Bengsch of Berlin declared: "The credibility of the Church suffers serious setbacks, when four years after

307 SUBVERTING THE COUNCIL'S MEANING which replaces Latin with the vernacular, consigns Gregorian chant to musty oblivion and centers the Mass on congregational participation instead of sacrificial celebration. And as if to make sure that this partial obliteration of the sacred character of religious ceremonies - at least in our ability to apprehend it - should be effective,218 beauty was banished the end of a council, as a result of the pressure of public opinion, the participating bishops can no longer agree with the decisions of the council" (Informationen aus Kirche und Welt, Augsburg, Advent 2000, p. 5, quoting Der Fels, II, 1970). The reason is that "public opinion'' can hardly claim to enjoy the same supernatural help as the council, just as it is a fallacy of democracy to think that truth resides in the many. On the contrary, it is usually the prerogative of a few. 218 I am speaking here, as mentioned, not of the intrinsically supernatural character of the Mass, but of our own awareness of it as a result of the changes which Paul VI introduced. Have not the text and the very "body- language" registered in the external rite lost in meaning more than they have gained in relevance to our time? A process has been initiated the consequences of which are becoming more and more obvious. Tradition having lost its hold, innovation seems almost mandatory. The priest only too often feels that he has been freed from the imperative character of the rubrics and that he implicitly enjoys the right to improvise. Hence these masses where communication is seen as more important than prayer, or even where Sunday worship takes on the trivial character of a "happening." Even when such excesses are avoided, the present-day situation is hardly satisfactory since that very liturgy which was supposed to be up-to-date, has not succeeded in what had been its objective: it has not elicited the desired response from young people. They stay away. The reason is that, even more than their parents of the 1968 generation, it is they who, in the collective expression of religious feeling, suffer from the absence of the esthetic component. The vertical dimension of the cult having been neglected in favour of the horizontal dimension, the social element takes precedence over the religious. The tree of Calvary had been the impulsion towards heaven of a stem bearing two branches: a cruciform elevation. Appearances are not all that counts, of course. But in practice, they are most effective. Liturgy is a language expressing an invisible reality. May it never seem to give the lie to what it should be making manifest! Is not liturgy our attempt to approximate the heavenly celebrations which, when once again associated with our bodies, we

308 THE DESECRATION OF BEAUTY as if by decree from on high from the refuge of the sanctuary in which it had until then played its part in the ritual expression of devotion.219 will accomplish before God? Is it mistaken to think that, as much by gesture as by song and music, there should be a relation between our earthly ceremonies, when they are beyond reproach, and their heavenly counterpart? And that we will glorify God on this new earth and under these new skies in a manner which transposes on a qualitatiely superior register what we had already attempted to accomplish here below? We are presently merely apprentices of what we are called to accomplish later perfectly, but the finality is the same. 219 In the Mass, when Jesus is present, He is no less physically than divinely present. He hears us through ears, sees us through eyes. Can we offer him a cult no less adapted to the human perception he has of what is going on, with a music suggesting that very love which gives "impetus to the stars"and a liturgy worthy of his attention? What is the reception appropriate for such a visitor? We cannot offer such a host anything less than what is most precious, as did the Three Wise Men with their gold for his kingship, myrrh for his mortality and incense for his godliness. In a fugue of Bach, for instance, God is twice present: firstly, in an analogical way through the harmony which expresses the order presiding over His own creation; and secondly, insofar that it is He, the supreme artist, who fashioned the genius of Bach, and who is indirectly responsible for the masterpieces which we admire. God is in the work of art, all the more so that it partakes of the attribute of perfection. There is a providence in the music of the masters as there is in all things under the sun. But in today's religious services tunes are hymned that are anything but morally uplifting, and are more reminiscent of camp-music. Liturgy should provide a link to a transcendent reality and to a past which has been hallowed by Tradition. The title of John Saward's book, The Beauty of Holiness and the Holiness of Beauty (Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1997), is the very programme that should be implemented. Holiness is truly the constitutive element of this beauty to which a liturgy worthy of its name testifies. Beauty is from God. Let us render to God what comes from God. Such is the worship He deserves. Beauty is suitable for what is sacred. Hence the uncomfortable feeling when any attempt is made at compromising it with triviality: the promiscuity of ugliness is like an indecent assault. In the romanesque cathedral of Worms, for instance, the addition of two baroque high-altars were not only tasteless, but also the intrusion of a 309 "GOD IMPARTED" Furthermore, and as if openly to flout the Council's demand for a more effective evangelisation of the world, the weakest link of society was deprived by modernistic fiat of free access to revealed truths: little children were inflicted with a catechesis taylor-made to initiate doubts into their minds, especially respecting the truths transmitted by tradition. 220 As if the better to destabilize the Church, after thirty years, spirit of wordliness into an otherwise prayerful architecture. In the same way, modern interpolations into age-old elements of our liturgy tarnish their original excellence. The Mass is both "God imparted" (''Dieu communiqué'': Bossuet) and Heaven anticipated. That we should apprehend these truths and worship the Holy Trinity is the purpose of liturgy, which, if it does not give us a foretaste of paradise, has ceased to correspond, for the edification of the faithful, to one of its essential requirements. When the medieval pagan potentate in Kiev sent emissaries to Constantinople to enquire about the Christian religion, their report was deemed by him convincing enough for the conversion of his people: "The ceremonies were so beautiful we thought we were in heaven." How far removed are we from this ideal, even in the words we use! Alas, the Church in the US has not escaped from the stylistic aberrations of inclusive language! Christians should be aware that ugliness is the mark of the eschatological Beast. His favourite medium is rock music. Its very frenzy suits his iconoclastic purpose and he dreams to see it desecrate the holiness of Sunday Mass. Can one deny that his wishes have often come close to fulfillment? Need I say that to uglify religion is to make it less attractive? The justification for this disfigurement was that modernity implied a devaluation of esthetics. A striking example of this pseudo-democratization process is to be observed in the illustration of books for the young. In the days of "Winnie the Pooh," children were shown as children should be: sweet, cute and innocent. Today they are portrayed as boisterous, obstreperous and wild. In the same way, when the expression of religion is cheapened, religion itself goes through the same process. It no longer reflects a world redeemed by grace, but one from which both Christian and esthetic values, as if they were complementary, had simultaneously fled. 2 20 Rather than apply the hallowed methods for teaching the Catechism which had been already tested and tried, programmes were implemented whose only hypothetical advantage resided in their modernity. That

310 UPROOTING CHRISTIANITY two generations of young people had been "protestantized" through the instillation of a spirit of free enquiry. Individual conscience became the touchstone of ultimate truth, and as if to top this off, the "Zeitgeist" in turn was called upon to introduce its Women's Liberation thematics with feminism. Until then, had not woman fulfilled in the very heart of the Church the role of "Mary," while in this spiritual Bethany the occupations of "Martha" had been shared by man? Woman, however, aspires henceforth to the responsibilities of administrative office. But nature takes its revenge on ambition. When woman, estranged from home life by employment, exchanges domestic subordination for mercenary subjection, this disorder in social life also finds its counterpart in religious communities. Vocations run dry, with the loss of their apparent purpose, and in times when motherhood is tainted with an intimation of passivity, the apostolate of prayer has been in turn inflicted with the stigma of inefficacity. If Christianity signifies the subversion of worldly wisdom, should one not draw the necessary conclusion? To refuse Mary's "better part" to follow the example of Martha, means to renounce the ways of Heaven. 221 Since womanhood cannot be too highly prized, it should not be exposed to the risk of losing its specific character. If this half of mankind was to join the other half in the errors of its ways, the species novelty is not a criterion of excellence can be seen in the French catechetical text "Pierres vivantes" (1982) which sowed for years the tares of doubt instead of the good wheat of doctrine. The principle behind this approach seems to have been that the child should discover by himself the truth of religion by a personal process of trial and error. But this is forgetting that Faith is not man-made, but a teaching, originally received directly from Heaven, and later transmitted through tradition. It cannot be rediscovered; it can only be taught. The truth is not in the future, it is in the past through whose ministry it had been jealously preserved. Let us not, therefore, as Simone Weil says, turn "Christianity into an uprooted thing in relation to its own past." (Cahiers IIL Plon, Paris, 1956, p. 247). Obviously she had foreseen the excesses that would be those of our generation! 221 Such are the "ways of Heaven" as Thérèse of Lisieux had understood them, and which are more especially adapted to the condition of woman, when she wrote: "In the heart of the Church,... I choose love." 311 MARY FAVORS WOMEN to which we belong would be done for. Are not the concessions made to public opinion even in the hallowed sanctuary of the churches to be regretted? If, in spite of a tradition as old as Christianity, women were also admitted to the altar, the end result would be that the religious cult, considering present-day assistance at Mass, would be celebrated by a person of the same gender as those in the pews. Did not the Virgin in her most spectacular apparitions address herself mainly to members of the female sex as if she wanted to underline its own prophetic charism? What a contrast between the Old Law and the New! Jehovah chose men as messengers. Mary seems to confide her messages preferentially to little girls or young girls, consecrated virgins or married women. Those she singles out she treats with the honours due to their mission. The deservedly renowned sentence, addressed to Bernadette remains registered in our memories: "Would you do me the favour of coming here for two weeks?" But more eloquently in French than it can be conveyed in English, she says: "Voulez-vous avoir la grâce de venir ici pendant quinze jours?"

Mary's statue in Akita weeping

312 Miraculous Statue of

Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa

313 Fatima

Medjugorje

314 CONCERNING THE INNOCENTS FORTY EIGHT DE INNOCENTIBUS

ome people are shocked that so many families flock to places of apparitions as if to get indoctrinated by superstitious practices. Would it not be preferable, they say, if one waited until the Church, in her wisdom, had decided on the authenticity of, let us say, Medjugorje? ̶ 4 ̶ It is difficult, however, to dispute the facts. On the one hand, too many fruits of spiritual renewal have been observed in places where the Virgin Mary is reported to be appearing. On the other, the question concerning the authenticity of these apparitions may take twenty to thirty years or more before it is settled by the local bishop. Families cannot wait forever. Children grow. Is there anything more effectively formative than the early experience of charismatic events? We are all aware of the most manifest symptoms of our present- day revolt against God, when atheism is on the increase, agnosticism has become fashionable, religious relativism is trendy, and esoterism is popular. On the collective level, that of the "Big Beast" mentioned by Plato, mankind openly advertises its purely secular character. The rejection of a transcendent destiny on the part of individuals is no less widespread. Men and women, both in their "modus vivendi," and in the language of the media, proclaim their liberation from the dictates of natural law. Furthermore, what used to be hushed up in Victorian society is now considered suitable for children. These victims of the general subversion are now being educated according to principles as absurd as those of modern feminism. And since children are not capable of deciding for themselves how they should be brought up, they are subjected to norms of behaviour as lax as those of adults. They are exposed to current sexual obsessions even before they are of age. Schools have unveiled to untutored eyes mysteries that used to be deemed appropriate for later disclosure, and have perpetrated an assault on innocence by anticipating discernment. The play-instinct has been misused. The intimacy which used to be protected because modesty was prized, has been invaded as a

315 EL ESCORIAL logical result of an androgynous aberration. After the attempt to abolish the differences between men and women in clothes and in behaviour, the goal is now to abolish the difference between the ages. In contrast to these abominations, the Virgin of the apparitions is preaching traditional values; and if she advocates the return of the mother to the home, she also encourages the rediscovery of a long-forgotten practice, the institution of Christian communities. 222 This would bring us back to the time of the apostles, when the first generations of the faithful, especially the younger elements, nestled in the protective cocoon of the Church, protected from the deleterious influence of the world. A child who is not shielded by its parents from the incitement to evil sponsored by the media, will only too soon fall prey to the widespread rejection of natural law practiced by adults. Thus, "all flesh [having] corrupted their way upon the earth'' (Gn 6: 12) as in the days of Noah, the arch of Marian devotion alone will preserve for the rest of mankind the spirit of salvific subjection of the creature to his Creator. "Innocence alone can save us," exclaims conscience. "But there is no innocence left. We have destroyed it in the very hearts of infants. Without this treasure, what surety is there!" Such is the complaint born of our distress. Where is innocence to be found except with Mary?

222 The Virgin of Maracaïbo, Venezuela said: "My children, on this day I want to invite you to imitate the early Christian communities. " (Xavier Reyes-Ayral: Un message d'amour: Résiac, Montsûrs, 1997, p. 195). The theme is the same at El Escorial where familial community life has been reintroduced modo christianorum antiquorum. "The first family communities which, at the request of Heaven and under its 'guidance' 'renounced their own goods,' selling them all and placing everything in common, began 'to live in a large house as the early Christians' in January 1990 at 'La Magdelena' ... " (Gabriel: Premier récit authentique des apparitions de l'Escorial· F.-X. de Guibert, Paris, 1996, p. 109). On this point, Heaven is insistent: On October 7, 1989, the Virgin said: "Be humble, my children, break lose from your belongings and place them in common as the first Christians did. Let nothing be yours; let what is yours be for all." On November 4, 1989, she is even more specific: "... I want you to be attached to

316 POVERTY AS IDEAL

El Escorial

nothing... that you all be one, that what is for all should be for everyone and that what is everyone's should be for all, my children. Such is the practice of the Gospel." On September 5, 1992, she wished that communities be grafted on the root of charity, so that "the branches of this tree of charity stretch to all the parts of the world." What is proposed here for families is the Franciscan way of life: "I want that... you live in poverty, having given over your wealth to the poor." Lady Poverty was homeless. But she has now been offered a house and lodging at El Escorial, as in other places where the Virgin has appeared.

317 BETANIA

Mary, Virgin and Mother, Reconciler of All People and Nations.

Maria Esperanza Medrano de Bianchini

318 IN PRACTICE FORTY NINE IN PRAXI

ou say: "The Virgin has appeared!" But this should remain doubtful as long as the local bishop has not rendered a favourable judgment! Haste, apparently, begets error. Why hurry? In due time, all questions will be answered. We should allow for a sufficient delay until the bishop can determine the authenticity of a charism whose nature can better be established once it has ceased. Both prudence and common sense meet in their call upon the faithful of goodwill to renounce all inclination to start a pilgrimage before the apparitions have drawn to a close. No one is canonized before his death. Why should apparitions be declared as authentic before the series has been completed? ̶ 4 ̶ And why, according to this logic, should one come, so to speak, on location, as long as the Virgin is there? For in 99.50 % of the cases, the bishop will wait until the apparitions have ceased before he advises the faithful of goodwill that these apparitions are opportune! 223

223 The only two exceptions chat I know of are Yagma-Lourda, diocese of Kaya, Burkina-Faso (Africa) - where the decision may have been precipitated and premature - and Betania, by Cua, Venezuela, where, without waiting for the apparitions to come to an end , the responsible bishop declared that, according to his judgment, they were authentic. In the latter case, the visionary, "Maria Esperanza Medrano de Bianchini... (born in 1928), had a lifetime of mystical experiences to prepare her for her mission. From childhood onwards she had been visited numerous times by St. Theresa of Lisieux and the Blessed Mother... her heavenly visitors 'arranged ' her marriage to Geo Bianchini Gianni... For a while, Padre Pio was her spiritual director... she came to experience, not only such classic mystical phenomena as stigmata, levitation, the reading of peoples' hearts and the fragrance of roses, but also some very unusual ones such as her body being covered with a film of golden-hued moisture and live roses growing out of her chest! These things were witnessed

319 SHE CAME UNTO HER OWN, AND HER OWN RECEIVED HER NOT Can the average Christian, however, share this point of view? He does not, as does the bishop, have care of souls, except of his own. If he delays until the time when all is over, will he not deserve the following comment: "What an odd way to respond to an invitation! The guest makes sure, before coming to a banquet to which he has been invited, that the Lady of the house, weary of waiting for him, has retired to her own private quarters." In other words, as was the case for Christ: "The Virgin came unto her own, and her own received her not" ( Cf. Jn 1:11). If the price to pay for rejection of Christ was worse than the judgment meted out on Sodom (Mt 11: 23, Lk 10: 12), what will be the fate of these wayward guests of Mary? For we are all invited, if not by name, at least implicitly. To be called upon by one's own proper name is the honour bestowed upon few. Such were the apostles and disciples whose identity is recorded in the Gospels. Many more were called than those which responded unhesitatingly. Of these many, we have heard of some who gave plausible reasons for declining to follow on the spot the call of Christ. One argued he had first "to bury his dead father," another asked for time "to take leave of [his] family" (Lk 9: 59-62), and a third wanted to hold on to his "many possessions" (Mt 19: 17-22). Having wished to delay or to decline a decision which of its nature is that of "all or nothing," and which is so sublime that it must be immediate, their names have fallen into oblivion. Doubtless, the Virgin's invitation addressed to all and sundry is so indeterminate as to allow for more leeway. Nonetheless, it would be presumptuous to depreciate the graces which are granted to souls who respond promptly and favourably to Mary's request. The matter is urgent, and the time is short. "It isn't a sin," says he who stays at home upon hearing of Mary's call. But is this not a strange way to look at a spiritual option - solely under the aspect that one does not feel guilty when neglecting it? For this entails the ulterior responsibility of having given in to conformity, convenience or even facility, at the very moment when Mary offers bounties to those who answer her invitation. These benefits are related to one's presence at a by doctors, lawyers, psychiatrists, engineers, atheists who have been converted by them, and even a TV journalist who filmed some of them." (Fr. Edward D. O'Connor: Marian Apparitiom Today, Why So Many? Queenship Publishing, Santa Barbara CA, 1996, p. 23) 320 "And the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale" (Ap 6: 13), according to Dürer

321 THINGS ARE DIFFERENT TODAY specific place, and more especially now than in years to come. Do we not go out of our way to meet someone who is dear to us? We are told that "it will be early enough when the apparitions are over, and the bishop will have by then rendered a favourable judgment." This manner of arguing rests on the questionable preamble that this is the way things were done in the past. The past, however, is not the measure of the present: 1 Lay people did not enjoy the liberty of initiative which has been granted to them by Vatican IL 2 Since the total population of the earth in any previous century was a mere fraction of that of the XXth, it is logical that the number of apparitions had been correspondingly lower. 3 Messages from Heaven were not as explicitely eschatological in times past, 224 nor did they entail such a dramatic character of emergency. 4 Far less numerous also were the signs of which even non- visionaries could profit, such as statues shedding either real tears or tears of blood, holy images secreting oil endowed with curative properties, unexplainable phenomena in the sun or in the sky, marvelous wafts of perfume. 5 Apparitions did not usually last for years, as is often the case today. 6 Travelling facilities the world over were no match for those presently at our disposal by plane, car or train. 7 Since the news did not reach with the speed of lightning the most distant confines of a province, a country or the earth, most of the faithful could not be made aware of what was taking place elsewhere. In the case of Fatima, for instance, in spite of the spectacular dance of the sun, hardly anyone outside of Portugal seems to have heard of the event until thirty years later. However, Heaven having organized its interventions in novel ways today, we must conclude that it is for the hic et nunc and not for the benefit of future generations. But our children, nonetheless, will reap what we have sown. No graces are wasted in the Communion of Saints. For the time being, it is we who are challenged to respond to Heaven's call, just as we are also possibly those who will have to

224 There are exceptions to this general rule, of course, as in the case of the prophecies of Mélanie Calvat of La Salette.

322 AT WAR WITH THE DEVIL confront "the Great Tribulation" mentioned by Matthew (24: 21) and cross the river of fire, blood and death announced at Garabandal and El Escorial... One thing is certain. In this world, when God chastises, it is for our good. As for the falling to earth of the stars of the sky announced by the Apocalypse (6: 13), their descent will accompany that of the devils precipitated into hell. These evil spirits will drag along their human counterparts. Such will be the execution of a sentence unceasingly suspended in its accomplishment by the delays which in these "last times" have been granted to all. The seemingly endless series of apparitions of Medjugorje, Manduria and elsewhere have no other object. Granted that "no one is canonized during his life," should penitents have waited until Padre Pio was dead to confide themselves to him? The question is absurd. St. Thérèse of Lisieux promised a "rainfall of roses" after her death. However, Padre Pio's apostolate allowed for his charisms to be already at work during his life-time. It would have been nonsensical to have neglected the available heavenly help which he offered in the confessional. Is the Virgin in her apparitions less charismatic than the holy friar in his ministry? Our calling, as XXIst century Christians, is to work for "the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary," according to the expression used at Fatima. Princes of politics, sports and entertainment, with the help of the media, become the focus of the world. Whenever they appear, they attract hundreds of thousands of followers, supporters, fans. And the Mother of God should be satisfied with a few hundreds of sayers of beads at Schio or San Damiano, as is usually the case! Christians are, or should be, at war with the devil. Joan of Arc used to remind the timorous captains who wanted to temporize that every delay is the waste of a strategic advantage. For spiritual combats, the urgency is the same. "I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven" (Lk 10: 18), said Christ. And in fact, Lucifer and his minions will crash to earth as so many fireballs, dragging along into the abyss their devoted servants, abortionists, "prochoice" devotees, promoters of sterility and all those bearing the sign of the Beast. Recalling the tide in praxi, let us mention the two touchstones of discernment at everyone's fingertips in relation to apparitions: 1 Are the visionaries of good faith? This is the subjective test. 323 THE FRUITS OF CONVERSION 2 Are there fruits of conversion, healing, edification? This is the objective test. There are doubtless other criteria, 225 but these two are as decisive as common sense, and that is all that is expected of us. To those who go to places of apparitions, something happens. This is a fact of experience. It can be as strong as the feeling of resurrection, shedding the old man off, allowing the new man in. It can be as a soft wind of grace, a deeper persuasion of the lovability of God. No one comes back indifferent, unimproved, untouched, from a pilgrimage to our Lady. It is an encounter, a spiritual or an emotional one. It is something new in one's life, something like the initiation to a level of prayer which one had not known until then. A change has occurred, a change for the better; Heaven has been approached; Faith has been restored or fortified; doubts and uncertainties have been dispelled. Man has returned to his "unum necessarium," to the one and only pursuit of goodness that leads to the "Love that since the beginning holds us in His arms." (Simone Weil) 226

225 Such as the conformity of the messages with the doctrine of the Church, for instance. This conformity is a sine qua non condition, but for which precipitation must be avoided. The admirable formula of the Virgin of Lourdes, "I am the Immaculate Conception," at first filled the curé of Lourdes with dismay, for it seemed then too unusual. The same thing happened on a greater scale in Medjugorje, whose critics suspected that the Virgin was on far too favourable terms "with all religions" to be genuine, without realizing that the "religions" she was speaking about are the "ethnical groups" of the region, according to the local terminology. For Mary is, as we know, the Mother of all Nations, even when these happen to be separated from Rome (the Serbs), or even further removed from true belief as a result of schism or heresy (the Moslems). The Virgin remains nonetheless for them, if they call on her, the Mediatrix of the graces necessary for their conversion. 226 On the theme of the benefits to be expected, a more authoritative voice than mine expressed itself in the following way: "If you open up your heart, so as to greet the Virgin when she appears, even if you do not see her, you will receive the same graces as we do, the visionaries! We are nothing special, the Virgin wishes to grant to all what she brings to us." (Vicka of Medjugorje, quoted by Sister Emmanuel, Enfants de Medjugorje: Les saints, nos protecteurs in Stella Maris, March 2006, p. 23).

324 ADDENDUM FIFTY NON PATET DE SUPERNATURALITATE

his is the expression currently used by episcopal commissions concerning new Marian apparitions. It means that the supernatural nature of the event under consideration is not established. Without any ifs or buts, this fact should be accepted at face value. And the faithful should steer clear of the places of apparitions that are thus characterized. ̶ 4 ̶ However, according to the famous Mariologist, Father Laurentin, people should not be led astray by this expression. Apparently and unbeknownst even to the members of the commission, a play on words is taking place. For the word supernatural can signify two things: firstly, it can apply to a "miracle"; and secondly, to a "spiritual event." Furthermore, each of these two things, in the context of the above Latin expression - non patet de supernaturalitate - can be further subdivided. For this expression is usually interpreted by the public as meaning that the apparitions under consideration are questionable to the point that they should be understood as not having taken place, either because the visionary is deluded or deluding, hallucinating or lying, psychotic or mendacious: hardly an enviable situation for anyone to find herself in. An analogy should be helpful here. When someone is accused of a crime he is deemed innocent as long as he has not been convicted. Of course, this rule will be disregarded by the public if the crime has been committed openly, as when Ali Agça shot John Paul II. In the same way, if the messages of the Virgin transmitted by the visionary are not intrinsically extravagant, or immoral, but on the contrary highly edifying, why should they not enjoy the benefit of the doubt in favour of their authenticity? What is genuinely edifying should be credited with

325 THE VARIOUS MEANINGS OF "SUPERNATURAL" a plus and not written off with a minus. The lessons of the past, in this respect, should teach us not to jump to condusions. 227 Furthermore, the word "supernatural," as mentioned above, is ambiguous, for it can either mean "miraculous," id est defying the laws of nature, or "a motion from God of spiritual nature." According to the first meaning, there are grounds enough already for a variety of interpretations. At Lourdes, for instance, hundreds or thousands of miracles have been reported, but only 66 to date have been officially recognized. Does this mean that the cures that are merely reported are imaginary or fallacious, and that these countless people claiming they were healed can have been deluded into believing that their health had been restored, or that, as a matter of common sense, the commission selecting the few cures to which it affixes the label miraculous is not pronouncing itself on the non-reality of those innumerable other cures? What is wonderful at Lourdes, is not only that many halt and blind have instantly recovered the ability to move or to see, but that this , whether officially recorded or not, has been accompanied by spiritual benefits. And this is where the second meaning of the word "supernatural" comes into consideration. Grace is at work at Lourdes: conversions take place. Would the bishop of Lourdes be willing to discredit himself by saying that the supernatural character of these conversions has not been established? Or that he was restricting himself to pronounce judgment only on the physical cures? This would appear highly arbitrary. For Lourdes has endeared itself to the faithful by responding to all their

227 If a parallel can be made between "natural" and "supernatural" events, of which the impact on the witnesses or the hearers, is as positive as it can be, why is it chat the first will be currently seen in a good light, while the second will be instantly suspected of harbouring an insidious peril? Thus, the author of religiously uplifting books will be praised by priests and bishops, while the visionary transmitting messages of the Virgin calling for prayer and penance, will almost automatically be suspected by the same authorities of being self-serving, unbalanced or deluded. Their excuse or their justification, of course, is that in the latter area, alas, what is genuine is scarcer than what is fake or illusory. Furthermore, while most books will promote hallowed doctrine or spirituality, the content of recent apparitions will bear significantly on eschatological announcements whose prophetic content may be couched in unexpected terms, in response to sudden twists and turns in the unfolding of history.

326 NOT OF A SUPERNATURAL NATURE needs, either with its miraculous water, or its processions of the Holy Sacrament, and its prayerful atmosphere, etc... Thus when Marian apparitions are reported today, and countless conversions take place, it would be advisable to take into consideration the following observations of Father Laurentin: ... an apparition is neither a miracle (even if some miracles may then take place), nor a major phenomenon in the Church (it is more often a purely private phenomenon), nor a juridical problem (with certain exceptions), but a pastoral and a spiritual problem. And Father Laurentin refers to "the policy expressed by Cardinal Seper, the predecessor of Ratzinger, on February 25, 1978, for the discernment of apparitions." Thus the Cardinal stresses that the accent should not be placed on the juridical aspect and the forum externum, "while the whole problem resides in the forum internum (id est in the spiritual life). Thus, as a result of the very multiplication of apparitions, their pastoral and spiritual character is in the process of being rehabilitated." Very simply, the conclusion is that we should "judge the tree on its fruit" and lay stress on what is most important. And as a consequence, visionaries are not to be "marginalized," as has often been the case, nor "rebuffed, despised and slandered." Sometimes of course, merely by implication. 228 The mission they fulfill is a prophetic one, in the widest significance of the word. This book of mine is thus a plea for far more than a mere spirit of tolerance of visionaries on the part of religious authorities. It is reassuring, however, to observe, with Father Laurentin, that an evolution is discernible in favour of a more positive or supportive attitude, as is already the case among the bishops of South America, for instance.229 This would prevent that the above described misunderstandings should occur in the future; and of course, that the faithful be further unnecessarily disheartened and the visionaries exposed to undeserved criticism.

228 (According to the article on the "Buffets and Misfortunes of Visionaries" in Chrétiens magazine, Caumont-sur-Durance, March 15, 2003, pp. 18-19). 229 Cf. for instance the bishop of San Nicolas in Argentina, who leads personally the crowds of faithful in prayer, or the bishop of Betania in Venezuela who authenticated the apparitions even before they had ceased.

327 THE OPINION OF THE MARIOLOGIST... Let us observe furthermore that non patet de supernaturalitate, if it is a restrictive statement. should not be seen, contrary to appearances, as a negative one. For if it affirms that the events at a place of apparitions cannot presently be called miraculous, it allows for their being not only beneficial, but even commendable. In case the messages received by visionary were morally or dogmatically questionable and presented a peril for the souls of the faithful, the bishop would be the first to point this out. Thus would-be pilgrims should not feel that they are conscience- bound to stay away when a non patet de supernaturalitate statement has been issued, for it is the mildest kind of restriction available... There are some cases, however, were the expression used to characterize the nature of the proceedings is: Patet de non supernaturalitate. This means that the falsity of the apparitions has been established, either because the messages received were contrary to revealed dogma, or because the visionary, for whatever reasons, is deluded or deluding. It is to be wished, of course, if dogmas have been flouted, that this be spelled out in no uncertain terms. When the visionary has been hallucinating or dissembling, however, the response should consider what the circumstances are so that charity prevail above all things. 230

230 Father Laurentin, in this respect, mentions that the expression patet de non supernaturalitate is open to confusion. Though its meaning seems clear, its implications are diffuse. And he analyses these in the light of the use of the Latin formula quoted above to the case of the apparitions of Emmitsburg (Maryland: 1993-2000?) by the commission created by the archbishop of Baltimore: "It seems rather paradoxical to exclude supernaturality in reference to a Christian person [Gianna Talone-Sullivan] whose whole life, faith and charity are disinterestedly dedicated... to the service of the poor." And he asks if these poor "are not the essential objects" of solicitude of the Gospel. "If Gianna Talone's life of deep, personal, familial and radiant prayer, if her renunciation of a career in the hospitals of Scottsdale, then of Maryland are not supernatural, what is it that is supernatural in the Church? The supernatural could even be excluded from the life of , insofar that the meaning given to the word 'supernatural' is that of miraculous and since no miracle has been attributed to her during her life." 328 RENÉ LAURENTIN

Bishop of San Nicolas leading the crowds of faithful in prayer

The trouble is that, even if the name of the visionary was not mentioned by the archbishop, the communication to the press of the decision concerning the non-supernatural character of the events of Emmitsburg ushered in a campaign of "defamation," via television, radio, internet. Such expressions as "lies, make-believe, pantomime, etc., were used." To the queries made to her, Gianna responded simply: "I thank the commission for its work." And Laurentin wonders, concerning this case, if it does not illustrate a certain inadaptation of the juridical procedures used currently. Why did one not use in reference to Emmitsburg the same approach as in Scottsdale (non patet de supernaturalitate), where one mentioned that the matter was not heretical "(even if one regretted the cult of the Child Jesus in the Eucharist as an unusual novelty, but nonetheless tenable... )"? Gianna had been surprised by the fact that the decree of the archbishop had not been communicated to her. It did reach her, however, indirectly one year later, via the bishopric of Scottsdale. Such is, summarized, the comment of the French Mariologist René Laurentin in the article which will be found in his massive Dictionnaire des "apparitions" de la Vierge Marie (Paris, Fayard, 2007, pp. 1335 - 1337) under the heading "Talone."

329 THE PROPHETIC PEOPLE

Crucifixion by Chagal

330 "SALVATION MUST COME FROM THE JEWS" (J 4, 23)231 FIFTY ONE IUDÆI

he fascination exerted by their history has mobilized the attention of such geniuses as Pascal or Leon Bloy. It has also through the ages, provoked scandal from the less commendable elements of those societies in which, in the course of their three long exiles from their homeland, they found refuge, be it with the Egyptians, the Babylonians, or the proverbial Gentiles of more recent vintage. In this latter group one can mention the Romans, the Arabs, some hot-headed would-be crusaders, pest-ridden medieval mobs, narrow-minded Christian monarchs, pogrom-addicted Russians, or, as a crowning aberration, a recent Darwinian-obsessed dictator. Now that the Jews have returned to their traditional surroundings, can we assume that they will henceforth be mercifully spared further trials? ̶ 4 ̶ This would mean that they had fulfilled their mission as a prophetic people. For the Prince of this World, and his minions among gullible humans, are forever bent on thwarting this fulfilment. The coming of a Messiah from the descendance of David had been foretold. Yet, when "he came unto his own, his own knew him not". The reason is that he had been awaited, in agreement with his royal lineage, as a monarch reinstating the Kingdom of Israel into its ancient boundaries. The very angel of the Annunciation had evoked the role he would play in similar terms: "He shall be king over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." And the apostles, as children of their times, ultimately expected no less of Him than such an accomplishment. Judas, in his conceit, as conceivably the smartest of the lot, could not conceal his deception and sold his Master for hard cash as one would a slave. The remaining Eleven, on the morn of the Ascension, were still harboring dreams of greatness: "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?" (Acts I, 6). If the chosen few of

231 Father Lagrange, the famous exegete, proposes this translation as more plausible than the traditional one: "Salvation is from the Jews."

331 THE KINGDOM OF GOD his following could thus have been misguided, the blindness befalling the many was understandable. Of all of the announcements of Moses and the prophets, only those concerning a more than Solomon-like reign were unquestioned. And these were plentiful. Who would not rejoice and dance with glee upon reading Isaiah's 60th chapter? The whole world would pay tribute to Jerusalem. Even today, these promises of great things, now that we know that they were not accomplished in the days of Christ, are diverted from their original meaning. We are told they should be interpreted in a spiritual sense. And why not? As such, they are quite satisfying. The early Church Fathers, however, realized that they could be understood almost literally, for the reason that they applied to the future, and not, as had been thought, to the first coming of Christ. For there was to be a second coming of the Son of Man, this time in conformity to his regal estate. This Kingdom of God of which our Lord said to the Jews: "[it] is in the midst of you", will only receive its complete fulfillment ad extra upon His return "on the clouds of heaven." Thus when Christ on earth followed his calling as the whose mission was described by Isaiah in chapter 53, the Jews would not listen to him, because they were not interested in a spiritual kingdom. What is of the flesh dreams of carnal achievements. It is only within the compass of eschatological events, however, that what is spiritual can receive a temporal accomplishment worthy of its heavenly source. Thus, while the chosen people betrayed their vocation, because it did not correspond to their earthly expectations, we, the Gentiles of the 21st century, with our more gnostic focus on purely spiritual realities, are blind to the temporal dimension of the "Kingdom " that is to "come". We read Isaiah 53, which for us harkens to the past; and forget about Isaiah 60, which deals with the future. Instead of girding our loins and fighting our good fight which is, despite the turncoat apostasy of the many, on the verge of victory, we despair of tomorrow. Never was the Kingdom of God, however, closer at hand. We too, like the Jews of old, are incapable of reading the events of the present in the light of the Scriptures. When the Jews of today, however, begin to understand their past, will we not match their zeal and open our eyes to our forthcoming destiny? 332 RECENTLY AUTHENTICATED APPARITIONS INDEX

List of the places of apparitions mentioned in this book 231 Akita, in Japan, 1973-1981: Sister Agnès Sasagawa Katsuko:

231 Here, as in the rest of this book, are to be found the places of Marian apparitions which I happen to think are authentic. The list is not exhaustive, since I have restricted myself to those apparitions of which I have a first-hand knowledge, or on which I had the opportunity to read extensively. Neither can it be authoritative, since the bishop alone, in his divinely instituted office, is qualified to issue a certificate of authenticity. Shall I say, then, that I am merely describing the probable outcome, since experience shows it is fairly easy to foretell what will be the final result of the lengthy deliberations which precede the actual acknowledgement of supernaturality? As is apparent throughout my book, my main purpose has been to counter the fallacious arguments formulated now and then against authentic contemporary apparitions. But this cloud of suspicion is slowly dispersing in favour of a more objective approach. In 2001, the supernatural character of the events in Kibého (Rwanda) was recognized by the Bishop, as if the tragic genocide that had been foretold brought with it the confirmation, sealed in the blood of two of the visionaries, of the prophetic nature of the predictions. For Montichiari in Italy (1947-1966, Brescia) and Balestrino (1949-1971, Savone), which we had not mentioned, the competent chancelleries have expressed themselves favourably. The same observation applies since December 21, 2001 to l'Ile-Bouchard (1947, Indre-et-Loire, at a most critical juncture in French politics, when Communists almost took over control of the country). If history is the judicious appreciation of past events, it can be said that here it is at its best. Most unexpected has been the recent recognition of the authenticity of "Our Lady of all Nations" of Amsterdam (1945-1959), since these apparitions had first been thought to be of a demonic nature. Two books are to be commended for their listing of places of apparitions according to criteria of official approval, even if, in this respect, they are somewhat obsolete: Multiplication des apparitions de la Vierge aujourd'hui. Est-ce Elle? (abbe René Laurentin: Fayard, Paris, 1988) and Pourquoi la 333 DOZULÉ lachrymations, effusions and locutions.232 Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, 1945-1959: Ida Peerdeman. Betania, at Cua, state of Miranda, Venezuela, 1976-1988: Maria Esperanza Medrano de Bianchini. Cochabamba, Bolivia, 1995-.....: Catalina.

Vierge apparait aujourd'hui? (Anna-Maria Turi: Félin, Paris, 1988). More exhaustive and up-to-date is René Laurentin and Patrick Sbalchiero's Dictionnaire des "apparitions" de la Vierge Marie (Arthème Fayard, Paris, 2007, 1428 pages). On its back cover it mentions that "in two centuries, only fourteen... apparitions have been formally recognized." 232 Akita and Dozué are distinctive, since in Akita, there were no apparitions, while in Dozulé it was mainly Christ who appeared. Dozulé is one of the most heavily contested places, because of Christ's request that a cross of 738 meters, the altitude of Golgotha, be erected there. In our days, such an engineering feat would be feasible. But for obvious reasons, no one considers that it is likely. Personally, I do not find it more utopian than the fervour which animated the builders of Gothic Cathedrals when they defied the laws of gravity and raised vaults above ground to dizzy heights, as in Beauvais with its 48 meters. Pharaohs, to assure their immortality, built Pyramids. The Kings of France were not held back by expenses. Think of Francis the 1st with his 11 "châteaux," especially that of Chambord where he only stayed for 72 days. What about our skyscrapers, which are the towers of Babel of business? With the Cross of Dozulé, France would be returning to the times when no expense was deemed too extravagant for the celebration of God. And it would be thus atoning for its politics of exclusion of religion and religious symbols. Within four centuries in the Middle Ages, more stones were quarried for churches than the Egyptians had used in two thousand years for their temples and pyramids! Is there anything more venerable than the sign of the Cross? "Per hoc signum, vinces." ("By this sign you will vanquish.") It is this veneration, elevated to the scale of our modernity, that the visionary Madeleine is promoting at Dozulé for the opening of the sluices of heavenly graces. Since, as was to be expected, nothing came of her original suggestion, many pious families have decided to erect crosses of 7.38 meters on their properties, painted in blue in Mary's honour . 334 CATACLYSMS ARE NOT HAPHAZARD Dozulé, near Caen in Normandy, 1972-1978: Madeleine Aumont. 233 EL Escorial, near Madrid, Spain, 1980-2002: Luz Amparo Cuevas, last message, May 5, 2002. Emmitsburg, Maryland, USA, 1993-200?: 234 Gianna Talone- Sullivan. Garabandal, near Cosio, province of Santander, Spain, 1961-1963: Conchita Gonzalez, Mari-Cruz Gonzalez Madrazo, Jacinta Gonzalez Gonzalez, Mari-Loli Mazon Gonzalez (all unrelated to one another). Heroldsbach, near Bamberg, Germany: 1949-1952: eight little girls. I.Jle-Bouchard, in the Loire valley, 1947: Jacqueline Aubry and three other little girls. Kerezinen, Finistere, Brittany, 1938-1965: Jeanne-Louise Ramonet. Kibého, Rwanda, Africa, 1981-1985: three adolescent girls, Alphonsine Mumureke, Marie-Claire Mukangango, Nathalie Mumukamazimekapa, and others. Litmanova, in North Slovakia, close to Stra Lubovna, 1990-1995: Katka Ceselkova & Ivetka Korcakova. 235 Lyon Croix-Rousse, France, 1882-1883: Anne-Marie Coste.

233 Cf. supra. 234 The question mark means the apparitions had not ceased when I wrote these lines. On July 7, 2003, the archbishop of Baltimore issued a statement of constat de non supernaturalitate, thereby excluding their supernatural character. For comments by Father Laurentin, see chapter 9, note 44, pp. 71-72, and Addendum pp. 325-329. 235 When lvetka asked, on February 24, 1991, why the Virgin was all dressed in black during her preceeding apparition of the 17th she received the frightening answer: "In the Persian Gulf, where war is raging, almost all the souls are damned, [of which I hear the] dreadful cries of suffering." (Vers l'unité... Messages de Notre Dame à Litmanova, Résiac, Montsûrs, 1997, p. 52) On the topic of "the small amount of the elect," see chapter 7. It is one of the current misapprehensions of the ways of Providence to believe that since God is good, He will prevent sinners from falling into hell. It would be more appropriate to say that since he is just, He will not prevent them from misusing their liberty, even if, in His mercy, He has appointed Mary as their refuge and their last recourse. 335 SIN GENERATES DISASTER Manduria, between Tarento and Brindisi, southern Italy, 1992-200?: Debora. 236 Maraca1bo, Venezuela, 1988-?: Juan Antonio Gil, José-Luis Matheus. Marienfried, Pfaffenhoffen, South Germany, 1940-1946: Bärbel Ruess. Marpingen, dose to St Wendel and Neunkirchen, Germany, 1999: Marion Guttmann, Christine Ney-Niederkorn, Judith Hiber. Medjugorje, Bosnia, Yugoslavia, 1981-20..?: Vicka Ivankovic, Mirjana Dragicevic, 237 Marija Pavlovic, Ivanka Ivankovic, Jakov Colo, Ivan Dragicevic. Naju in South Korea, 1985-20..?: Julia Youn. 238

236 Since 2002, at the request of the bishop, the apparitions take place in private. 237 The apparitions of the Virgin to Mirjana take place in public on the second day of every month. 238 The archbishop does not recognize the supernatural character of the apparitions and other marvelous signs of the Virgin of Naju, who weeps tears of blood. Recently, on December 31, after a more than usually abundant lachrymation, the Madonna told Julia Youn: "As I have already said in the past, you should not believe that the catastrophes taking place in the air, on earth and on theseas – the many earthquakes, the storms inundating the earth, the deluges of rain and the typhoons, the abnormally heavy snowfalls, the forest fires, the famines and the plagues, the wars and the murders, the offensive wars and the conflicts between nations and races, the divorces in families and the assassinations between relatives ‒ are natural disasters, happening at random." (Maria heute, Switzerland, April 2006, p. 28) What we are being told here is that cataclysms are natural only insofar as nature is involved. We tend to think they are haphazard because they seem unforeseeable. But in reality they are as providential as the fall of the biblical sparrow. Are we not worth more than the birds of heaven? Thus what affects us, privately or collectively, has a meaning and a purpose. The meaning is one of Love, as in everything that God does. The purpose is that of our salvation, be it, as most often is the case, through our own amendment. If we do not read God 's intent in events, they will remain a riddle. If we interpret them too literally, they will seem absurd. But from time to time a light of eternity is shed upon them, and then we can understand that what happens is

336 "UNLESS YOU REPENT" Ostina/Valdarno, diocese of Fiesole, near Florence, Italy, 1993-200?: Sylvana Orlandi. 239 Pederobba, on mount Monferena, diocese of Padova, Italy, 1996- 200?: Paola Albertini.240

for our own spiritual benefit. One of the easiest ways of attaining this level of supernatural wisdom is to listen to the current teachings of our Heavenly Mother. Concerning the responsibility of man for the evils which are impending, two excesses are to be avoided: that of relating the victims to their misfortune through a relation of cause to effect, or that of maintaining there is no link between the sins of men and the ills afflicting them. We should be reminded that if God's justice is immanent in this world, it is not as selective now as it shall be in the hereafter, where the punishment will fit the crime. Thus, it would be quite as absurd to maintain that Aids is not the price the homosexual may have to pay for his deviant acts, as to suggest that the child born of an HIV parent is answerable for his affliction. There is a solidarity among men which increases the moral liability of whoever behaves aberrantly. That is why, if the misconduct of the one can cause the misfortune of the many, the redemptive character of the sufferings of an innocent can also palliate the proximate or distant consequences of the misdeeds of others. Taken as a whole, men are the makers of their own destiny; taken individually, it can be otherwise. Did not Christ warn the Jews of his days with the words, "Unless you repent you will all ... perish," (Lk 13: 5) of the impending destruction of their Temple and their country? And yet, in most cases, it was their children who would be slaughtered by the Romans. 239 According to the most recent reports, these apparitions take place at 5 o'clock pm, at the visionary's house, on the last Sunday of every second month (thus in February, April, etc. .. ) 240 Best known in the States as a result of the miraculous cure of Mother Angelica, of EWTN fame, on January 29, 1998. The apparitions, which were of private nature since 1986, have become public since 1996 for the 4th of each month, on mount Monfenera, at 6 pm. (Cf. Patrick Sbalchiero, "Une fidèle hors du commun: Paola Albertini, "Chrétiens Magazine, 15 April 2007, pp .15-19 ) Pederobba is 34 km North-West of Treviso. 337 ZEITOUN San Damiano, Near Piacenza, Italy, 1961-1981: Mamma Rosa Quattrini. San Nicolas, Argentina, 1983-1990: Gladys Herminia Quiroga de Motta. Schio, North ofVicenza, Italy: 1985-2004: Renato Baron. Scoglio (Roc of), near Placanica and Caulonia, Calabria, Italy, 1968- 92: Fratel Cosimo. Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, 1987-1993: Gianna Talone and nine young visionaries. Tilly-sur-Seulles, diocese of Bayeux, Normandy, 1896-1905: Marie Martel. Tre Fontane, outskirts of Rome, 1947: Bruno Cornacchiola. Vadiakkadu, Kerala, India, 1985-200?: Mary-amma. Valkenswaard, close to Eindhoven, Netherlands, 1987-?: Agatha Molki. Zeïtoun, Cairo, Egypt, 1968-1971: Mary seen by crowds of up to 250,000. 241

241 Visions noteworthy by the number of seers and which I had not mentioned in this book since the Virgin did not speak.

338 ZEITOUN

On April 2, 1968 the Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of Light, began a long series of silent mainfestations over the dome of a Coptic Orthodox church named in her honor in Zeïtoun, Cairo. Everyone present, Christian, Jew, Muslim, pagan or athiest identically described her various forms of luminous appearances, sometimes accompanied by celestial lights in bird-shapes of intense brilliance and velocity. Numerous miracles of spiritual conversions and physical healings have occurred.

339 ILLUSTRATIONS ILLUSTRATIONS

On the front cover: The Madonna in prayer of Sassoferrato (Giovanni Baptista Salvi) On the back cover: Jacques Cabaud offering his manuscript to Pope John-Paul II, on April 3, 2002 (Photo by "L'O. R.", Vatican City) Introduction: Padre Pio ̶ Mamma Rosa ̶ Padre Pio ̶ Renato Baron ̶ The Virgin of Schio ̶ The Perfumed Cross. Chapter I: St. John of the Cross ̶ The "Little Miracle" of Garabandal Chapter 2: The Little Miracle ̶ Dr. Jean Caux and Conchita Chapter 3: Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort - Maria Valtorta Chapter 4: Anne-Marie Coste (Lyon) ̶ Marie Martel (Tilly-sur-Seulles) ̶ Our Lady of Fourvière; Medal of "The Forsaken Mother" ̶ "La Croix Brisée sur le Globe" ̶ Sr. Mary of the Eucharist ̶ Medal of "The Forsaken Mother" ̶ Our Lady of Tilly ̶ Marie Martel Chapter 5: Martin Luther ̶ Yvonne-Aimée de Malestroit as a young girl ̶ Mother Yvonne-Aimée of Jesus Chapter 6: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse according to Dürer ̶ Visionaries of Kibého, Rwanda: Alphonsine, Marie-Claire and Anathalie ̶ Alphonsine Mumureka in ecstasy Chapter 7: Hell as beheld by the little girls of Heroldsbach Chapter 8: Garabandal - Dozulé Chapter 9: El Escorial Chapter 10: El Escorial seer Amparo Cuevas Chapter 12: Dr. Gianna Tallone-Sullivan ̶ Chapter 13: Regina Prophetarum

340 ILLUSTRATIONS Chapter 14: "Nuestra Senora alada del Apocalypsis", Miguel de Santiago ̶ Ida Peerdeman ̶ Virgin of Amsterdam, Lady of All Nations ̶ "A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" (Ap 12:1) according to Dürer ̶ Conchita of Garabandal in ecstasy ̶ Debora of Manduria in ecstasy Chapter 15: A "beast... with two horns like a lamb and that spoke like a dragon (Ap 13:11), according to Dürer ( detail) ̶ The Virgin visits Benoîte Rencurel Chapter 17: Luisa Piccarreta ̶ Saint Thérèse Chapter 18: The visionaries of La Salette with the Virgin ̶ Maximin Giraud and Mélanie Calvat of La Salette Chapter 19: Juan Antonio Gil ̶ Simone Weil Chapter 20: The Madonna della Scoglio, famous for cures and conversions ̶ Fratel Cosimo Fragomeni, the visionary Chapter 21: Miracle at Vadiakkadu: The coffin appears ̶ The cover of the coffin is removed ̶ Alive! The child is alive ̶ A nurse washes the child ̶ Moses: his family names him Moses ̶ Young Moses on the knee of the mystic Vassula Ryden beside Mary-amma and Fr. Prassad ̶ "Maria Mediatrix" Chapter 23: Banneux ̶ The Immaculate Virgin of Beauraing, Mother of God and Queen of Heaven ̶ The visionaries of Beauraing, Fernande, Berthe and Albert Voisins, Andrée and Gilberte Degimbre Chapter 24: , Mother of the Poor ̶ Don Bosco's vision Chapter 25: The Annunciation, Mikhail Nesterov Chapter 28: Our Lady of the Rosary in San Nicolas ̶ Gladys Herminia Quiroga de la Motta

Chapter 29: Our Lady of Reconciliation and Peace of Balestrino - Catherine Richero of Balestrino ̶ Pierina Gilli of Montechiari ̶ Rosa Mystica of Montechiari - L' Île-Bouchard: Our Lady of Prayer with the Angel Gabriel - Nicole Robin, Jacqueline & Jeanne Aubry, Laura

341 ILLUSTRATIONS Croizon, Visionaries of l 'Île-Bouchard

Chapter 32: Stained glass of the Heroldsbach vision of hell - Our Lady of Heroldsbach - The nine visionaries of Heroldsbach Chapter 34: Ven. Benoîte Rencurel during an apparition of our Lady of Laus - Our Lady of Lipa, Mediatrix of all Grace - Teresita Castillo, Visionary in Lipa, Batanga, Philippines, 1948

Chapter 35: Mary, Our Mother - The Virgin of El Escorial in Spain Chapter 37: "And a great portent appeared in heaven , a woman clothed with the sun" (Ap 12: 1}. As seen at Heroldbach according to the painting by W. Fielder who left out the crowd - Statue of the Virgin of Medjugorje weeping tears of blood at Civitavecchia

Chapter 38: L'Île-Bouchard - Miraculous healing of Catherine Vial at Laus Chapter 39: Heroldsbach girls digging the "well of mystical graces" - Gospa of Medjugorge, Queen of Peace - Medjugorje seers: Vicka, Jakov, Mirjana, lvanka, Marija and Ivan

Chapter 40: Mirjana of Medjugorje in ecstasy - Our Lady of Mt. Carmel of Garabandal - Visionaries of Garabandal: Lila, Conchita, Jacinta and Mari Cruz Chapter 41: Mari-Loli in one of those "ecstatic falls" of Garabandal which seemed sometimes to defy the laws of gravity

Chapter 46: The lesson of the fig-tree- "The great harlot... drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus" ( Ap. 17: 1-7), according to Dürer (detail) - Our Lady of Reconciliation, Ostina in Italy - Visionary Silvana Orlandi - Mary Queen of the Gardian Angels, Monte Santo, Pederobba

Chapter 47: Mary's statue in Akita weeping - Miraculous Statue of Our Lady of Akita - Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa - Fatima - Medjugorje

Chapter 48: El Escorial - Betania: Mary, Virgin and Mother, Reconciler of All People and Nations - Maria Esperanza Medrano de Bianchini

342 ILLUSTRATIONS Chapter 49: "And the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale" (Ap 6, 13), according to Dürer Chapter 50: Bishop of San Nicolas leading the crowds of faithful in prayer - Crucifixion by Chagal Index: Mary's luminous apparition over the Coptic church in Zeïtoun.

NOTA: I am indebted to the Arti Doria Pamphilj in Rome for the Sassoferrato Madonna on the front cover; to the Germanisches Museum of Nürnberg for the Dürer engravings; to the Éditons du Parvis for the pictures of Mamma Rosa, Debora, Mirjana, and of the statue of the Virgin of Medjugorje. I thank F.-X. de Guibert and O.E.I.L. for the photos of Mari-Loli and the Virgin of El Escorial. Several pictures of the Garabandal visionaries are from Ed Kelly, author of A Walk to Garabandal. I am grateful to the Éditions Hovine for the second photo of Padre Pio in chapter 1; to the Editions Résiac for the photo of Luisa Piccarreta; to the Rassemblement à son Image for that of Luz Amparo Cuevas; and to the Pilgerverein Heroldsbach e. V. for the stained glass vision of hell. Furthermore, I owe to Father René Laurentin the pictures of Alphonsine of Kibého and the first four snapshots of the resurrected baby of Vadiakkadu. Brother Leopold von Jesu und Maria OFS provided the painting of hell and the composite picture of the nine visionary girls of Heroldsbach. For the quotations from the Bible, I relied mainly on the Revised Standard Version, Oxford University Press, New York, 1971. I also used the King James Version or the Challoner-Rheims text, or even sometimes offered my own reading... the ultimate authority in terms of meaning remaining the versions approved by the Church.

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