BLESSING OF JUNE 5TH, 2004. 1ST SATURDAY OF MONTH.
AT PRADO NUEVO. EL ESCORIAL (MADRID)

OUR LADY

Raise all your objects; all will be blessed with an especial blessing for the union of families.

I bless you as the Father blesses you, through the Son and with the Holy Spirit.

COMMENTARY UPON MESSAGES

January 22nd, 1982

This month we reflect on a short message; since most of its ideas have been commented on before, let us refer only to those important topics that are important.

" I’ve revealed all this to many souls, I’ve given my messages to the world in order that people may have time to repent, but they‘ve turned deaf ears because Satan shows himself in false apparitions to seduce many; and they do believe him. However, my daughter, say it, say it to the world, say that it’s me who talks to you although they may not believe you, although they may slander you, although they may call you a sham, although you suffer a lot" (Our Lord)

Our Lord’s words confirm that He shows himself whenever He wishes, wherever He wishes and to whomsoever He wishes. As a matter of fact, messages are certainly given to a limited number of souls; not only they share common topics but also they are suitable for this stage of humankind called " last times", "the end of times", etc. It is different from the end of the world.

These private revelations must fulfil some conditions to be true because the Demon, the father of lie, sometimes shows himself as an angel of light and uses human beings to sow confusion: "For false Messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders so great that they would deceive even God’s chosen people, if that were possible" (Mt 24,24). In his first letter, Saint John warns us against it as well, "My beloved, do not trust every inspiration. Test the spirits to see whether they come from God, because many false prophets are now in the world" (1 Jn 4,1).

Indeed, this privilege is only granted to a few chosen souls although it is more frequent than you may think. Pope Paul VI in a general audience said, " we know perfectly that the wind blows where it pleases (Jn 3,8), and we know that although the Church demands a lot from the true faithful with respect to their established duties, and it is often cautious and distrustful of spiritual illusions of those who show extraordinary phenomena, it is and it wants to be extremely respectful to those supernatural experiences given to some souls as well as those prodigious events miraculously set by God in natural vicissitudes" (November 29th, 1972). In addition to this, The Catholic Church’s Catechism teaches, " Throughout the ages, there have been so-called "private revelations", some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church" (n.67).

On April 5th 1997, Our Lord gave us some clues to know the origin of this kind of revelations, " false prophets are invading the world; don’t follow them, my children. Do you know how to distinguish a true prophet? By his obedience to the Holy Mother Church, by his universal messages to the world, by the fact that they don’t think they’re better than the others, by their humbleness".

The Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith is preparing a document to sort out this kind of phenomena; as it has not been published yet, we refer to another one elaborated by this Congregation some years ago (February 25th, 1978). Its most important points are:

  1. Sufficient information: events must be collected in written documents, pictures, recorded tapes, etc

  2. Orthodoxy: revelations must follow the faith of the Church as well as the Gospel’s teachings.

  3. Transparency: the honesty and sincerity of the person who supposedly receives messages and celestial manifestations must be demonstrated, it must be so in his/her daily life too.

  4. Reliable signs of God’s touch: that is to say, the fruits like conversions, vocations, love for the Church… as well as other signs of the divine action such as extraordinary phenomena, healings, etc. However, when sorting out these private revelations, the fruits are more valuable than the phenomena

  5. Judgment of experts: especially during the moments of ecstasy. We should warn against the danger of studying them guided by only rationalistic theories. When talking about the greatness of God’s matters, the psalmist says, " your knowledge leaves me astounded, it is too high for me to reach" Ps 139 [138], 6)
Finally, Prado Nuevo’s revelations and the divine instrument, Luz Amparo, fulfil these requirements although we do not analyse them here because it would be too long for this paper. Anyway, a prestigious theologian, who is an expert in these matters, wrote about Luz Amparo, " I met her in El Escorial in 1985, at the house of the family where she worked as a domestic (…) she is a simple woman, quiet, natural, she isneither impassioned nor or ambitious moved by sentimentality. In spite of her poverty, her dress is modest, clean, tidy. She does not look troubled when she is asked difficult questions, and she answers briefly to the most important ones. This is a testimony we should honour, and it makes us wish these cases of sanctity were recognized more promptly. From the point of view of the Gospel, there is no doubt that these exemplary persons should not be judged from superiority but from humbleness. For my part, I have had the feeling of contemplating her greatness from my littleness"