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     The impact of the phenomena that occurred in the early to mid sixties in the Pyranees of northern Spain when Our Lady appeared and imparted pertinent messages to four peasant girls is being felt in the nineties as we remind all of the significance of these messages and the prophecies that have come to pass and those yet to be fulfilled. We are confident they will be and explain in the sixty-fourth installment of our on-going mega series on the Church today as we near the millennium and the proximity of the "Warning" and the "Miracle". Click on THE AGE OF MARIAN APPARITIONS.

     As we have seen in all past installments of this on-going mega series the Holy Spirit works in wondrous ways but we must always discern through prayer and a thorough knowledge of Church Doctrine and Dogma, as well as the Traditions and Teachings, if the "spirit" is God's Will for us or own self-will clouding the issue. It seems in the latter part of the nineties that almost every day we've been receiving beaucoup calls concerning the pending "Warning" prophesied at Garabandal now over thirty years ago. There have been many omens publicized of cataclysmic events, catastrophic events with comets or asteroids plummeting to earth, giant earthquakes, floods, etc. and attempts to pinpoint dates, but every one of them have come and gone without being fulfilled - such as that God would appear on Channel 18 in Garland, Texas, or that He would come down in a spaceship for only His chosen ones who belonged to Heaven's Gate. We have seen the results, in the former humorous and bizarre, in the latter tragic and bizarre. In all of these including back in 1994 when a minister predicted the exact day the "Warning" would appear to other reports by purported messengers when the "Warning" and "Miracle" would be have proved false. Why? Because the messages they received were not of the Holy Spirit. Many did not discern but rushed to judgment. That is a great problem today both outside the Church and within, even within the Marian movement. Many rush to judgment either accepting everything or condemning it without truly discerning, without taking into account Saint Paul's words in 5 Thessalonians 5: 19-22, "Do not extinguish the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. But test all things; hold fast that which is good. Keep yourselves from every kind of evil." That is one of the biggest problems today is that we do not "test all things" - we do not submit to the Will of God and keep that which is good while discarding that which could be harmful. Rather, we rush to judgment, clouded by our own experiences, prejudices, and self-will. But it all falls into the category the Blessed Mother spoke of at Garabandal, as well as La Salette, Lourdes, Fatima, Medjugorje, Akita, Betania and countless other sites around the globe and to countless messengers throughout the world. Jesus Himself warned of this when He said in Matthew 7: 15-16, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them."

     Ah, the fruits. The fruits of all Our Lady has imparted have or are coming true, while those messages not from Heaven - which portend things not from God, though they pretend to be - ergo the false prophets - land by the wayside. The sensational prophecies are caught up in the frenzy of the media glare and publicized, but they soon whither and fall by the wayside and are scattered to the winds. The prophecies from Our Lord and His Blessed Mother gain momentum and bear fruit, yet they are not publicized to the degree of the former because they are not "sensational" in the eyes of the world. No, in the pupils of the temporary they are mundane and boring - such as Pray, Fast, Do Penance, Convert your hearts to God, Do good for your fellow man, Return to the Sacraments. These are the messages They have been conveying for the past two centuries while warning us of the ills our society would plummet into. Did we listen? The answer has to be a reverberating "No!" because the world is no better off today than during the time of Sodom and Gomorrah. Our Lady has said this over and over. Yet we still plod on toward that abyss, "bored" by the messages because there is nothing exciting about them. God told us we had to work by the sweat of our brow when He banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Nothing has changed despite the high-tech, lazy conveniences of the nineties. In fact, He asks us to work all the harder to offset this "curse." And living the messages is work because it means applying ourselves day-in and day-out with little fanfare. But the fruits will accrue as do the graces because of our obedience and perseverance. If we don't, then we can expect dire consequences and we will know when the "Warning" does occur. That God has promised - when we will see the state of our souls as He sees us, not as others or the rose-colored ego facade we may have conned ourselves into thinking exists. When that happens it will hopefully wake-up the entire world. Realistically Our Lady has conveyed that there will be those who will still disdain her Divine Son and for that rejection they will pay dearly. Those, striving to do God's Will, don't want that to happen to them or to any of God's children and are therefore asked to take on the extra task (we like to say "graces") of doing reparation through prayer and penance. Think of the numerous victim souls who offer their suffering for the reparation of sins such as abortion, blasphemy, homosexuality, lust, greed, - all the seven deadly sins. To quote a famous song, "They want them to be with them in that Number when the Saints go marching in!" And the saints will march for after the "Warning" will come the promised "Miracle" much in the same fashion as the Passion and Death of Christ came before the Resurrection. We have to pay a price for victory. Are we willing to pay into that fund to reap the eternal dividends? That is the question Our Lady has asked at Garabandal following it up even more intensely at Medjugorje. So many who were on fire when they first went to or heard about Medjugorje have fallen aside, spurred only by the sensational, oblivious to the truly sensational promise Our Lady imparts - to be with her Divine Son in Heaven forever! Medjugorje is nothing but an extension of Garabandal and Garabandal is nothing but an extension of Fatima and Fatima is nothing but an extension of La Salette and La Salette is nothing but an extension of Lourdes and...well you get the picture. All the apparitions over the past two centuries are intricately woven together forming a beautiful tableau that has all the answers to Heavenly Bliss there as plain as day. But we get so caught up in all the trappings of the world that we lose sight of this valuable tapestry fashioned by God. That is why He sent His Own Mother to the Pyranee Mountains in Northern Spain, not just for the four peasant girls who would become visionaries - but for the whole world. That is why He sent His Own Mother to the mountains in Bosnia, not just to six children - but for the whole world. God has a method to His "madness." Not that God is "mad" in the sense of state of mind, but that He works in wondrous ways for He is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in One.

     And though Garabandal has taken a back seat to more modern apparition sites and the latest "vision" or "message of the week" that message junkies cluster toward, Garabandal is not forgotten and He will resurrect the meaning of His Mother's visit there and all that was foretold when the "Warning" and "Miracle" occur. Make no mistake about it, it will happen. Regardless of other events foretold by others and specific dates, we are not cynical or skeptical about the prophecies of Garabandal, only the aspect of being leery about any specific date unless it comes from the visionaries of Garabandal themselves who are now in their mid to late forties. As we've said throughout this series, the "Warning" and the "Miracle" will happen and will happen before the millennium! As Father Richard Gilsdorf testified in Garabandal Magazine in 1990, "As the crisis deepens, it becomes increasingly evident that the prophetic elements must be the solution. When nothing on earth can avail, then Heaven will intervene. And of all possible forms that intervention could take, the sequence of Warning-Miracle-conditional Chastisement seems to mirror most perfectly the mercy and justice of God." In the next installment we will bring you more of Father's story and how Garabandal saved his priestly life.

     We discuss the mirages that occur in our minds and how they prevent us from seeing God's Will clearly for we, as finite creatures, often complicate the situation. God keeps it simple but we, for some reason, don't. We help bring it into focus with the answers to last week's puzzle on the Bible Quiz with the winner and the answers. Obvious today? Yes! Last week? No. We explain in our commentary today. For Often times, we can't see the trees through the forest!, click on today's CATHOLIC PewPOINT

     So often we think we see something and rush into it only to realize it isn't as easy as we thought. The obvious becomes oblivious and we see things where they aren't and don't see things where they are; call it mysterious mirages, if you will. Evidently such a mirage was the puzzle we presented last week on the Bible Quiz in finding forty five books hidden within the short story presented in bringing back our humor section A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO HEAVEN which was in hiatus during the solemn season of Lent. Whether the story we ran was humorous or not, some of the responses were humorous from listing books such as Hefaspu as one of the books of the Bible or Achuen. Those books are simply not in any Bible we know of. They may be in a protestant version, but not an approved Catholic one. There were a few that were close such as Aclesiastes and Duetotheeronomy. Those were purposely put in as red herrings to throw off the smarties. Had those been books of the Bible they would read Ecclesiastes and Deuteronomy. Some were obvious but there were others that even we were surprised most did not get. As it were there were 46 listed but we asked only that you find 45. Surprisingly most did not find that many; only seven found 45 but they weren't correct because of the aforementioned misnomers above. The closest was a Stephanie Krieger who came in with 44 correct ones. For that she will be rewarded with a one-year ANNUAL PASSPORT for either extending her own subscription or gifting it to another of her choice as well as receiving the trilogy of books on the Meditative Lessons of the Rosary. There were three runner-ups. Below are the Answers to the 45 books of the Bible hidden within the following story that ran last week. We've highlighted the books by capitalizing them and underlining the correct ones.

      A guy named JUD Expected to get through this puzzle in about five minutes, minutes, but he gave up because it was so puzzling!! Be careful, some are obvious, others are hidden. A world famous puzzle expert, Mr. PHIL EMON, claimed that not all 45 book titles were in here. After careful review from a panel of JUDGES from around the world, they have claimed that all of the books are within the story. A nervous Phil later was quoted as saying, "I still think I'm right!! IS A...I... AH!!... I finally found it!!! Right in front of me all along!!!". Some may be obvious as a certain man named MATTHEW found out, others are harder to find.

      One helpful hint would be to remember to MARK all the titles you find, and keep careful count of the NUMBERS. For some reason, eating sandwiches with peanut and JAME ESpecially seems to help people find the hidden titles.

      The great italian chef, Christo MALACHI Aspumante, cried out in loud LAMENTATIONS when he found his favorite customer, HOSE, Ate the famous sandwich with some COLOSSIAN SZACHARIA on his bread... Chef Aspumante later was fired from his JOB over it.

      To find a new BAR, UCHered as he was, he asked THES SALON IANS to recommend a good TITUS to a book. He figured since they were not against consonants but PRO VERBS, that they would know JO,SUE him and RUTHlessly try to keep him from ROMAN Sea to shining sea. Yet, in his haste to come TO, BIAS set in and he felt betrayed for he was no longer their PET ERr as he did judge so many. Finally, even though WISDOM broke through the LUKE warm attitudes so apalled were all, that the poor chef left a message with a big kiss from a PARA LIP OMEN to all that they had done him wrong. They replied "SIR, ACHe not for us, you are in need of a drink." But he would have none of that and reprimanded them saying, "I have given you a verbaTIM, O THY scoundrels, what fun you hath made of me. Remember this: as he stews, HE BREWS." But since there was no beer to be had in such a GALA TIANSillory-like setting, the beleagured chef with no prospect in the maKINGS, decided to quit A MOSt discouraging endeavor and resume a life of LEVITI, CUStomers being what they are now days.

     The bugler sounded, he was playing taPS. ALMS were needed to help the chef get food. But none were found where he was so he thought of going home and listening to music and realized he CAN. "TICLES the ivory" was what he called his son's excellent instrumentals on the keyboard. Thus he returned home to his family and his wife ESTHER who made him his favorite dish Chicken Caciaclesiastes for supper. All meals were meager due to the eronomy. Even though he was a chef, he relished her fixing the zucchini and herbs as he listened to his oldest son PHILIP PIANSo away on the keys, playing his favorite music as his other son DANIEL danced and, while the family dog JEREMIAH ate his APO, CALYPSED to the music in Carribean style. It was a fitting and just end to a very trying and difficult day in the life of Chef Aspumante as his niece ANA HUMmed the melody SO PHONIA the family cat could perch by the door of the JOHN because JUDITH was brushing her teeth at the sink for she was known by her brothers as " the hyGENE SIS."

      With the evening completed, so are we with this puzzle, so if you're having problems finding all the names, now is a good time for a mass EXODUS.

     There you have the answers. Looking at it this week compared to last many could probably kick themselves for missing so many obvious ones but they're only obvious when revealed. That's how God works so often. He lays out what He wants us to do, but we don't see it until the Holy Spirit reveals it to us in God's time. When we see it it is so obvious and we wonder how we lived before our enlightenment. We wonder why we ever considered God's Will puzzling because it is so simple. Though we may have complicated the above story and thrown in some curves, God doesn't work that way. He doesn't complicate things, we do. We read into so much things that simply are not there. God lays it out clearly and yet we insist on wearing blinders that prevent us from seeing the finish line clearly or the signs along the way. To offset our stubbornness and humanity, the Almighty has sent the Blessed Mother to make it even clearer, even though His Holy Church has all the answers, we don't always see the obvious. Therefore Our Lady continues to help us focus our lenses so we can zero in on the goal and know how to attain it. That is why she has been visiting God's little ones - His children - for over two centuries at regular intervals that have intensified as we near the third millennium. We talk about this in today's installment of our mega series THE AGE OF MARIAN APPARITIONS on Garabandal and The effects of Garabandal in the nineties. Despite the obvious, we still bury our heads in the sand, unwilling to realize that what God is conveying is simple. There's no reason to overcomplicate life, it's complicated enough. But so often, man being the finite animal he is, can't see the trees through the forest!

Michael Cain, editor

     In his column today, Father John Hampsch, C.M.F. shares with us how to use the insight of the Holy Spirit to see through the fog and see others - the poor and derelict - through the eyes of Christ. When we do this, the eyes of faith open wide and the heart opens wider and the vault of Heaven's graces flow. This is the gist of his thirty-sixth installment of his series "Faith: Key to the Heart of God." Click on KEYS TO LIVING GOD'S WILL

Thirty-Sixth Installment: Vertical Growth: Our Cooperation part four

      It's important to remember that we can pray for faith as the apostles did (Luke 17:5): "Lord, increase our faith." After all, "The Lord is the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). He’s the source and the end, the alpha and omega (Revelations 1:11). We turn to Him knowing that the Lord wants us to have faith and that He will generously give it to us as He supplies all our needs (cf. Acts 14:17). We should pray to be lifted up to that next level of faith, while asking also that any gaps in our faith be filled up. The "Lord-I-know-you-can" prayer of faith then becomes a "Lord-I-know-you-will prayer.

      Then be willing to act in faith. Good works affirm and authenticate our faith (James 2:17). Neglect of good works is ultimately neglect of Christ ("{If you neglect to do it unto one of the least of these my brethern, you neglect to do it unto me." Matthew 15:45). James says faith without good works is dead (James 2:17). It takes a tremendous act of faith to see and relate to Christ in your fellow man. If you look at a skid row derelict merely as a repulsive person, your faith is retarded. To see instead the precious dignity and nobility of that skid row derelict created in the image of God and destined for heaven—something incredibly awesome—requires faith in large measure. To act towards that person, using that "insight", requires even greater faith.

      You can’t practice charity if you don’t have faith. Only the eyes of faith allow you to see the Christ presence in a wino—or even to see the Christ presence in someone you live with who gets on your nerves. It takes deep faith to look beyond the shadow to this substance, and see a precious soul redeemed by Christ. You can’t act on faith without first having faith. That is, you can’t perform good works if you don’t first have faith to activate the charity. Faith is the basic virtue in life’s struggles, for I John 5:4 says, "Our victory over the world is through our faith." Peter speaks about this whole idea of active, operational faith enhanced by its "additions"" "To obtain these gifts, you need more than faith, you must also work hard to be good, you must learn to know God better, discover what He wants you to do (God’s will). You must learn to put aside your own desires so you become patient and godly, gladly letting God have His way with you (holy abandonment). That will make the next step possible which is freedom to enjoy other people and to like them and finally grow to love them dearly. The more you go on this way the more you will grow strong spiritually and become fruitful and useful to our Lord Jesus Christ. Anyone who fails to go after these additions is blind indeed, or at least very shortsighted, and has forgotten that God delivered him from the old life of sin. But now we can live a strong, good new life for the Lord" (II Peter 1:3-9). Faith has to be implemented, Peter seems to be saying.

Next Installment: Vertical Growth:Our Cooperation - part five

     In trying to keep things in perspective with all the seriousness of these times and what God is asking, we bring you a bit of levity that brings into focus how we need to keep our wits about us when everything is falling apart all around us. That's why we bring you this mid-week humor - the "LIGHTER SIDE". Click on A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO HEAVEN!

      In our second installment after Lent, we bring you a few more zingers in story-like form that we think you'll get a chuckle over.

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     A young boy was doing poorly in math at public school so his mother decided to send him to private school to rectify the situation. Lo and behold, after a semester in the new private Catholic school, the boy's grades were straight A's, even in math!

Surprised, his mother asked him how he liked his new school. "Oh, it's all right, I guess," he replies.

"They must be teaching you some new tricks!"

"Not really."

"Then what do you think is making the difference in your grades?"

"Well", he says, "as soon as I saw that guy nailed to the plus sign, I knew they meant business!"

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     A man received a free ticket to Opening Day of the baseball season from his company. Unfortunately, when he arrived at the stadium he realized, to his dismay, that the seat was in the last row in the corner of the stadium -- he is closer to the Goodyear Blimp than the field. As he ponders whether to navigate the ramp to the highest deck, he notices an empty seat in the second row behind homeplate. Taking a chance, he made his way down the aisle, around the security guards to the empty seat. As he sat down, he asked the gentleman sitting next to him, "Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?"

The man replies no. Now, very excited to be in such a great seat for the game, he again inquires of the man next to him, "This is incredible! Who in their right mind would have a seat like this for Opening Day and not use it?"

The man replies, "Well, actually, the seat belongs to me, I was supposed to come with my wife, but she passed away the other day. This is the first Opening Day we haven't been together at since we got married in 1942."

"Well, that's terribly sad. But still, couldn't you find someone to take the seat? A relative or close friend?"

"No," the man replied, "they're all at her funeral."

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     An excited customer went to his regular barber for his last haircut before going on vacation. As the barber snipped away, he asked "So, what's new?" The customer couldn't contain his excitement letting him know that he was taking his family for a vacation to Rome.

"Rome!?" the barbar scowled. "Why would you want to go there? It's a crowded dirty city full of Italians! You'd be crazy to go to Rome! How are you getting there?"

"We're flying on Air Italia," the man sitting in the barber chair replied.

"Air Italia?" whined the barber. "They're a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their flight attendants are ugly and they're always late! The barber inquired further, Where are you staying in Rome?"

The man answered, "We'll be at the downtown International Marriot."

"That DUMP?!" shot back the barber. "That's the worst hotel in the city! The rooms are small, the service is surly and slow and they're overpriced!" Exasperated, the barber asked, "So what are you going to do when you get there?"

"We're going to go see the Vatican and hope to see the Pope."

"Ha!" laughed the barber. "You and about a million other sweaty tourists will be trying to see him. He'll look the size of an ant. Boy, good luck on THIS trip. You're going to need it!"

With that he finished and each bid the other adieu.

A month later, the traveler came back in for his regular haircut.

The barber sarcastically asked, "Well, how did that trip to Rome turn out? I'll bet the airlines gave you the worst flight of your life!"

"No, quite the opposite," affirmed the customer. "Not only were we on time in one of their brand new planes, but it was overbooked so they bumped us up to first class. The food and wine were excellent, and we had a beautiful 25-year old flight attendant who was both pretty and efficient."

"Hmmm," mused the barber, "Well, I bet the hotel was just like I described."

"Not at all. They just completed a $25 million renovation. It's the finest hotel in Rome, now. They were overbooked, too, but they were so embarrassed about it that they gave us the Presidential suite for no extra charge!"

By now the barber was getting upset at all the good fortune this man and his family had encountered in light of the fact that the barber had predicted they would have a miserable time. So he relished his next line as he mumbled confidently, "Well, I KNOW for sure you didn't get to see the Pope!"

The customer sat upright in his chair with a big smile from ear to ear, "Actually, that turned out well, too. As we toured the Vatican, a Swiss guard tapped me on the shoulder and explained that the Pope likes to personally meet some of the visitors, and if I'd be so kind as to step into this private room and wait, the Pope would personally greet me. Sure enough, after 5 minutes the Pope walked through the door and shook my hand. As I knelt down to kiss his ring, he spoke a few words to me."

Flabbergasted and finally extremely impressed, the barber asked, "So tell me! What did he say to you?"

"His Holiness leaned over and said 'Where on earth did you get that awful haircut!?'"

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For the answers to last week's Bible Quiz Story, see today's CATHOLIC PewPOINT.

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PROVERB OF THE DAY

"He who sows iniquity reaps calamity, and the rod destroys his labors."

Proverbs 23: 8

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Click here to go to SECTION TWO or click here to return to the graphics front page of this issue.

Apri1 22, 1998 volume 9, no. 78   DAILY CATHOLIC