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El Escorial visionary Amparo Cuevas: the Meaning of the Messages

      We continue with the fifth installment of the apparitions of El Escorial, Spain which began during the same time frame as Betania and Medjugorje and has received little publicity. Yet, like Medjugorje and Betania, El Escorial is still going on and is as important as the others for Our Lady comes as Nuestra Senora de los Dolores - "Our Lady of Sorrows" to call all her children back to her Divine Son Jesus through Prayer, Penance and Sacrifice in atonement for our own sins and those of the entire world. God's chosen messenger to receive these and impart them to the world is a housewife and mother of seven Luz Amparo Cuevas a visionary who has suffered much producing plentiful fruits. For part five of The Apparitions at El Escorial, Spain - Characteristics of the Messages, click on THE AGE OF MARIAN APPARITIONS.

The Apparitions at El Escorial, Spain - Sacrifice leads to Salvation
part five

Characteristics of the Messages.

      The language of the messages to visionary Amparo Cuevas in El Escorial, Spain is very simple and direct. After all, the visionary is a simple, formally uneducated person. Certain phrases or sentences are repeated more to stress a point or a theme. As Our Lord pointed out to another visionary in this country, "I am not bound by the rules of grammar." What is important is that He touches souls so that they repent and change their lives.

      The length of the message varies. A very small number limit themselves to two to three paragraphs. In a couple of instances, the Blessed Mother simply comes to emphasize her request for sacrifice, penance and prayer, gives her blessing, and disappears. Normally, however, the English translation of the messages results in from two to seven pages. There are some ten or twelve messages that contained between nine and twelve pages of translation. The difference lies in the fact that in the apparitions which reflected these messages, Amparo was asked to narrate what she saw.

      Usually, the speakers in the apparitions are our Blessed Mother and the visionary Amparo. In a number of the messages, however, Jesus appeared after His Mother had spoken, and at the end of the messages, Jesus blessed the multitude, and His Mother blesses the multitude. There are no other speakers.

      Because of the complexity, repetition of themes and variety of topics presented in the messages to Amparo during the past 18 years, it is somewhat difficult to categorize or classify the messages. Therefore, this writer has chosen the messages. Therefore, this writer has chosen a rather arbitrary way of classification. The four classes are: (1) Messages of General Concern; (2) Messages containing visions; (3) Messages presenting episodes with insights into the Life of Jesus and His Blessed Mother; and (4) Messages which explain a Theme.

      The Messages of General Concern are those in which the Blessed Mother requests sacrifice, penance and prayer for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of souls. She encourages all her children to recite her "favorite prayer" the Holy Rosary. She advises everyone to pray the rosary daily and not to go to bed without reciting it. Our Lady asks Amparo and those in attendance to recite all fifteen decades of the rosary, if possible, every day as she asks at Medjugorje. When Our Lord appears, He too emphasizes the recitation of the rosary as "My Mother's favorite prayer." (Editor's note: The Rosary is the Blessed Mother's "favorite prayer" outside of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass).

      Consecrated souls are a popular topic with both Our Lord and Our Lady. Both are critical of the behavior of those consecrated souls who are leading the faithful into the abyss. Jesus accuses them of having abandoned their clerical responsibilities and of having given in to material things and to the pleasures of the world. He condemns the relaxation in religious discipline and calls for prayer and sacrifice to bring them back into their rightful role as shepherds of the flock of Christ, very of Christ, very similar to the messages of LaSalette over a century and a half ago. This theme has appeared many times and in at least two messages, they devote almost an entire message to a discussion of it.

      Satan and his work of destruction are another theme, which appears with great frequency. Our Blessed Mother warns against the power of satan as the great deceiver who causes division and disunity, chaos, confusion, and destruction of families. Concerned over the infiltration of satan into the Church, she asks for much prayer and sacrifice to thwart his efforts in destroying it. Our Lady requests prayers said with the heart for "the Vicar of her Son." She stated in one apparition: "How my heart loves Him!"

      Satan also uses his power to destroy the youth and lead them to hell. The Blessed Virgin admonishes young people to stay away from discotheques and other places of sin and observes that many youth are going to hell because of sins of impurity. To bring the youth back to God and to fight the devil, she advises us to use the most powerful weapon: the rosary. This is to be reinforced with penance and sacrifice.

      Sacrifice is stated so many times in the messages that it reinforces what our lives should be especially since we live in a culture which does not promote sacrifice as something that is socially acceptable. Many times Our Lady points out that her life was a life of sacrifice through constant suffering from the moment she gave her Fiat to the day when God the Father called her to her eternal reward. Even on that day, at age 73, the visionary described her as being very frail.

      Jesus also set Himself as a model of suffering and sacrifice. He reminds us that He suffered His Passion, shed His sacred Blood, and died for us. He further states that even in His glorified state He suffers continuously because of the sins of mankind, particularly those of consecrated souls, namely, those whom He has called to be His shepherds to tend His flock. Both Jesus and Mary point out that many people think they do not suffer because they are already in Heaven. Our Lord and Our Mother respond that they continue to suffer because of the sins, which are, committed daily against them. (Editor's note: Of course Jesus and His Mother cannot suffer in Heaven, but they express their sorrow for sins in human terms so that we might understand how offensive our actions, or lack thereof, are to the Most Blessed Trinity). Our Savior emphasizes that God the Father is merciful to those who repent and return to Him, but He is also just and His justice is severe. Because of this justice, God the Father holds all of His creatures accountable for their actions.

Next installment: Virtues and Devotions asked in the Messages .

      Today, besides being the Fourth Wednesday in Ordinary Time, is also the duo Feast of Saint Blase, Bishop and Martyr and Saint Ansgar, Bishop and Religious Missionary. It is also the day that the candles, blessed yesterday, are used to bless throats. Tomorrow is the Fourth Thursday in Ordinary Time. For the readings, liturgies, meditations and vignettes on these saints, click on DAILY LITURGY.

Wednesday February 3:
Fourth Wednesday in Ordinary Time and
Feast of Saint Blase, Bishop and Martyr and
Feast of Saint Ansgar, Bishop and Religious Missionary - "Apostle of the North"
Blessing of the Throats

Green or red or white vestments

First Reading: Hebrews 12: 4-7, 11-15
Psalms: Psalm 103: 1-2, 13-14, 17-18
Gospel Reading: Mark 6: 1-6

Feast of Saint Blase, Bishop and Martyr

      The traditional "Blessing of Throats" commemorates the feast of Saint Blase who lived in the fourth century. A philosopher and physcian, St. Blase was turned his back on the worldly pleasures and devoted his life to God as a physician of souls. His virtues and preaching drew people from everywhere. This bothered Agricolaus the Governor of Cappadocia, which is today Turkey and Iraq. The Roman governor seized Blaze and ordered his incarceration. On his way to prison, Blase was stopped by a distraught mother who pleaded for him to help her daughter who was dying of a throat disease. Blase, touched by her sorrow and faith, prayed and through these intercessory prayers the little girl was healed. Other reports say he healed a young boy choking on a fish bone. St. Blase is often depicted with two candles, used by priests on this day to bless throats. There are a plethora of stories of how many have been cured of throat diseases by praying to St. Blase to intercede. He was beheaded by the heathens in 316 and his remains are buried in the church bearing his name in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Unfortunately, the church was damaged by the Serbs in 1993 and is presently being restored.

Feast of Saint Ansgar, Bishop and "Apostle of the North"

     Dubbed the "Apostle of the North," Saint Ansgar was born into a noble family in 801 in Amiens in what was then Frankish territory. God called and Ansgar became a Benedictine monk at the Picardy monastery of Old Corbie. He became the master of the monastic school there before King Harold heard of his prowess as a preacher and evangelizer and requested the saint to accompany him back to Denmark under the protection of the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne. His zeal and missionary success in Denmark prompted King Bjorn of Sweden to invite him into the land of the Vikings. While there he was made the first archbishop of Hamburg and later appointed by Pope Gregory IV as the first papal legate to the Scandinavian countries. During his fourteen years in Sweden he converted countless pagans and Holy Mother Church was making great inroads until the heathen Vikings invaded in 845 and destroyed the city of Hamburg and much of Sweden. Ansgar was forced to flee to Bremen in what is today Germany where he was appointed the first archbishop there in 848. Pope Nicholas I did not forget Ansgar or Hamburg, uniting the see of Hamburg with Bremen in 854 when Ansgar again returned to Denmark and Sweden resuming his missionary activities. His coup de gras was converting the King of Jutland, King Erik who was impressed with Ansgar's fluent preaching, great austerity and the holiness he exhibited to all. Though Ansgar had always wanted to be a martyr, he died at the age of 64 of natural causes on February 3, 865 in Bremen. Shortly after that the Vikings again overwhelmed Scandinavia and destroyed almost all remnants of Christianity as the entire lands resorted to paganism since there were no more "Ansgars" to keep the faith burning in the hearts and souls of the peoples. The lack of the Church to maintain her roots in Scandinavia was one reason protestantism took such a firm hold in these countries during the Protestant Revolution of the sixteenth century.

Thursday February 4:
Fourth Thursday in Ordinary Time

Green vestments

First Reading: Hebrews 12: 18-19, 21-24
Psalms: Psalm 48: 2-4, 9-11
Gospel Reading: Mark 6: 14-29

      Today's Prayers are taken from the Collect of the Mass commemorating Saint Blase and the Opening Prayer for the Mass honoring Saint Ansgar:

Lord, hear the prayers of Your martyr Blase. Give us the joy of Your peace in this life and help us to gain the happiness that will never end.

Father, You sent St. Ansgar to bring the light of Christ to many nations. May his prayers help us to walk in the light of Your truth.

Born in the cradle of Popes, Cardinal Biffi brings a pastoral presence to Bologna

      Today we continue with this new series that we will bring you on a regular basis three times a week. Our fourteenth red hat we feature, in alphabetical order, is the 70 year-old Cardinal Giacomo Biffi who is currently the Archbishop of Bologna as well as enjoying membership in multiple Curial Congregations. For more on this red-hat appointed by Pope John Paul II back in his Consistory of May 25, 1985, click on COLLEGE OF CARDINALS COLLECTION

14.   Cardinal Giacomo Biffi

      Milan native Cardinal Giacomo Biffi was born on the feast of Saint Anthony of Padua in 1928. At the unusually young age of 22 he was ordained a priest two days before Christmas in 1950. He returned to school to receive his degree in Theology, then taught seminarians at the Diocesan school in Venegono. In 1960 he was assigned to pastoral work in the parish of the Holy Anaunian Martyrs in Legnano and nine years later transfered to St. Andrew's Church also in the same city. Pope Paul VI made him the Bishop of Fidene on December 7, 1975 and on January 11, 1976 he was appointed auxiliary Bishop of Milan. While in this post he was involved in the liturgical reform of the Ambrosian Rite as well as founding and heading up the Lombard Pastoral Institute. He was elevated to Archbishop of Bologna on April 19, 1984 by Pope John Paul II who also tabbed him for the cardinalate a year later at the Consistory of May 25, 1985 in which 24 were presented the red-hat. He received the titular church of Sts. John the Evangelist and Petronius.

      Cardinal Biffi, who will turn 71 on June 13th, serves in the Curia as a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Congregation for the Clergy, and the Congregation for Catholic Education. His candidacy is a long shot but he is familiar with the workings of Rome and comes from Milan, a cradle of Popes, the latest being Paul VI.

      In today's Time Capsules we see that Saint Laurence of Spoleto was exiled from Syria by the Monophysites who espoused the belief that Jesus Christ had only one nature - that of being Divine totally engulfing Our Lord's humanity. The Patriarch of Alexandria Eutyches was the chief propagator of this heresy which was condemned by the Council of Chalcedon in 451 which was also the Fourth Ecumenical Council called by Pope Saint Leo the Great. It was determined a heresy because it fit the parameters of the definition of heresy: the formal denial or doubt by a baptized person of any revealed truth of the Catholic Faith. (sources: My Catholic Faith, Mission House Publishers; 1999 Catholic Almanac, Our Sunday Visitor; The Catholic Encyclopedia, Thomas Nelson, Publishers)

February Flavors that tantalize the tastebuds of the mind and heart as long as your computer is virus-proof!

      Today, we begin this month of February with a light-hearted, but pensive look at a dangerous virus that not only could effect your computer but your life as well. For the vignette Virus Warning! Watch out for "Badtimes" aka the "hades harangue!" , click on FEBRUARY FLAVORS TO ENHANCE FOOD FOR THOUGHT APPETEASERS

      We thought we'd start our February Favors off on a humorous note. With Lent just two weeks away, there'll be plenty of time to bring you serious appeteasers, so today we bring you the "Ultimate Virus Warning!" We've borrowed from two different posts from DN and GD that we received and added a few twists ourself. With all the talk of the Y2K bug, there's something much more urgent out there and it could very well be this virus. A good deterrent to this virus also could be to keep some holy water handy! You see, there really is only one cure and it isn't an anti-virus program but a tried and true program that the Great Webmaster downloaded to a fisherman almost 2000 years ago.

Virus Warning! Watch out for "Badtimes" aka the "hades harangue!"

      There is a computer virus that is being sent across the Internet. If you receive an e-mail message with the subject line "Free Money," "Easy Life" or "Badtimes" DO NOT read the message. DELETE it immediately. The drastic measure would be to unplug your computer, then burn it to ashes in a government-approved toxic waste disposal incinerator and blame it on the Tobacco lobbyists.

      Otherwise, you might be in real trouble if you don't delete it immediately. If you open it, you could be in for a hell of a time!

      Once a computer is infected, it will be TOO LATE. Your computer will begin to emit a vile odor.

Then it will secrete a foul, milky discharge.

Verily, it shall screech with the tortured, monitor-shattering scream of 1,000 hell-scorched souls, drawing unwanted attention to your cubicle from co-workers and supervisors alike, howling like a banshee.

It will not only erase everything on your hard drive, but it will also delete anything on disks within 20 feet of your computer.

It demagnetizes the stripes on ALL of your credit cards.

It reprograms your ATM access code, screws up the tracking on your VCR and uses subspace field harmonics to scratch any CD's you attempt to play.

It will re-calibrate your refrigerator's coolness settings so all your icecream melts and your milk curdles.

It will program your phone auto-dial to call only your mother-in-law's number.

This virus will mix antifreeze into your fish tank.

It will reprogram your radio so that Howard Stern replaces Rush Limbaugh; and your television where Larry King preempts Mother Angelica.

It will drink all your beer and, at the same time, force you to play those obnoxious Miller Lite Beer commercials over and over in your mind!

It will leave dirty socks and diapers on the coffee table when you are expecting company and the kids will hurl their spinach souffle while at that fancy restaurant.

Its radioactive emissions will cause your taste buds to change where desserts taste like liver and onions.

It will replace your shampoo with Nair and your Nair with Rogaine.

It will go on a wild spending spree on the on-line malls, billing it all to your Visa card.

It will cause you to think faith is totally superstitious and put your trust in technology.

It will give you Dutch Elm Disease, the gout, ringworm and acne.

It will rewrite your backup files, changing all your active verbs to passive tense and incorporating undetectable misspellings which grossly change the interpretations of key sentences.

If the "Badtimes" message is opened in a Windows95 environment, it will leave the toilet seat up and leave your hair dryer plugged in dangerously close to a full bathtub.

It will not only remove the forbidden tags from your mattresses and pillows, but it will also refill your skim milk with whole milk.

It will persuade you that there's nothing bad on television and Clinton is an innocent victim of right-wing conservatives.

It will replace all your luncheon meat with Spam.

It will prompt you to put all your trust in HMO's.

It will molecularly rearrange your cologne or perfume, causing it to smell like dill pickles.

It will change your alarm clock so you sleep late on Sunday morning and miss Holy Mass.

It will convince you that that's no big thing and you'll make it a habit of missing Mass, forgetting Confession and become a politically correct cafeteria Catholic.

It will cause you to plead insanity and read about Virus alerts like this!

Ooops, maybe that's a sign the virus is creeping in. Funny, satan works the same way!

"Remember, God does not abandon those who truly seek Him."

      Those words from the Blessed Virgin Mary in Message #378 is a reassurance of her Divine Son Jesus' Mercy which He offers abundantly to all who ask for it. The problem, Our Lady points out in Messages 377 and 378 in late July of 1993 to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart, is that so few of God's children truly understand this and because their faith is weak, they are easily led astray which plays right into satan's schemes. No one is immune from the evil one including His consecrated ones who the devil specifically targets because of their leadership in the Church. She asks all her little ones to put the power of prayer into practice. For messages 377 and 378, click on "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..."

Messages Three Hundred-Seventy-seven and Three Hundred-Seventy-eight

      Beloved Hidden Flower, how I love you. This I ask you to say to all of my children: God exists. He is your true Father. His Only-Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, born of my virginal womb, redeemed you by His Most Precious Blood. Therefore, you are called to holiness. I have come to call all back to God. I point you to my Divine Son, to His Passion and Death and I solemnly say to you: "Do whatever He tells you."

      O! Time is running out! So many remain blinded by pride, jealousy, greed, power. Therefore, if mankind does not change then the fullness of Divine Justice shall strike.

      I come to you as your true Mother. I ask each of you to surrender your own will and live fully in the Divine Will.

      There will always be suffering for you, little children, for this is the path my Divine Son walked. If you walk it with Him all tears shall be turned to joy. If you refuse, you shall become satan's victims.

      I call all of my priest-sons to a renewed faith, a deeper holiness fully expressed as priest who is anointed and through whom my Divine Son becomes truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament. I ask all of my children to fill the churches and to give all reverence to God, Who alone is the Supreme Being.

      Pray! Be living prayers. Seek only God. Forsake all else until He alone is the center of your life. Your faith is weak! Pray! You do not understand what is yet to befall mankind. I am with you. I guide all to my Son. Come, pray with me, and together we will ask the Father to allow my Immaculate Heart to triumph now!

      Pray and beg for mercy, while yet there is time. Remember, God does not abandon those who truly seek Him.

      I love and bless you. Thank you for responding to my Call!

      Beloved Hidden Flower, I am with you. Please tell my little ones that I desire to be a true mother to all, but you must surrender your will to God, and pick up your cross and follow my Divine Son.

      Little ones, many of the messages I have given you have warned about the many disasters that would occur worldwide, and particularly in your own country. These signs are already present, but you remain blind, preferring to believe that all things are mere coincidence. I solemnly tell you, little children, all things are God-incidence for He alone is God.

      Please heed my urgent call. Your nation, because of its many sins against God's laws, shall not be spared but receive the full measure of chastisements before the Justice comes.

      I need your help. Pray with me, your Mother. Ask God to give you an open heart, a humble heart, an obedient spirit that seeks God first and always before any other concern.

      Come to Mass daily if you can. Confess your sins every week that you may guard against the evil one. Receive my Divine Son in the Most Holy Eucharist. Give unto Him every sign of reverence. If all who have heard my words with open heart returned to reverently receiving the Holy Eucharist, then would my Immaculate Heart triumph more quickly.

      I weep because you do not listen. You do not want to know about God's Love and His Justice. Thus, in your coldness you are in grave danger of being swept into the abyss by the evil one as the heresy, schism and apostasy ripen into full bud.

      O! Let prayer from the heart be the power which kills the evil weeds of satan's plans, and instead raises before God a pure garden of holy souls, more magnificent than all the flowers of the world.

      My time is growing short to be with you. Come now to my motherly embrace and seek refuge in my Divine Son's Sacred Heart.

      I love and bless you. Pray! Pray! Pray!

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

February 3, 1999 volume 10, no. 23   DAILY CATHOLIC