BLESSING OF OCTOBER 1^ST  2005. FIRST SATURDAY OF MONTH.
AT PRADO NUEVO OF EL ESCORIAL (MADRID)

OUR LADY:

Raise all your objects; all will be blessed for the poor dying people.

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

COMMENTARY UPON MESSAGES

September 15^th 1982

Our Lady told this short message to Luz Amparo on Our Lady of Sorrows’ feast a great date for Prado Nuevo and the Work that was born under cover and protection of the Sorrowful Virgin.

            “My daughter, listen to my messages. You will save yourselves through Mary, my children. The messages will be fulfilled from the first ones to the last ones, my children” (Our Lady)

Jesus Christ is the only Redeemer who can save us from sin and the everlasting death; however, through Mary we can get to salvation because She is the Mediator of all graces; She is Co- Redeemer. Indeed, we know that, in his Plan, God has given her an extraordinary role in favour of souls and He hopes She will be honoured as She deserves and She will be invoked with confidence.. Our Lord has claimed it clearly in his messages; for example, He said on July 14^th 1998, “I want you to venerate my Mother because men don’t take her to the place She deserves. My Mother deserves something more; She is the full of grace, the instrument My Father chose to take part in the mystery of the Incarnation. If they venerate Mary, Men will know Jesus more and they will loath Him more; and if they despise Mary, they despise Jesus. My Father exalted her to Heavens and made her take part in every mystery. He gave her to Men as Mother. She was Co- Redeemer with Jesus Christ”.

Although the title of “Co- Redeemer of Humankind” has not been stated dogmatically, there are more than a few statements of the Popes’ Teaching referring to it; Besides, in spite of not saying it clearly, the Sacred Scriptures include texts that lead us to believe in the Marian Co- Redemption. Likewise, The Christian Tradition is full of testimonies, from Saint Justine and Saint Irenaeus to these days. Theologically, we believe that the Virgin Mary was really and truly The Co- Redeemer because, firstly, She is the Redeemer’s Mother, which implies the spiritual motherhood of all the redeemed; secondly, because of her compassion at the Cross, deeply related to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ the Redeemer.

Popular piety has expressed its faith in the marian intercession in one of the most well- known Spanish religious songs, “Save me, Virgin Mary, Listen to me, I beg you with faith. My heart trusts in you; Virgin Mary, save me. Virgin Mary, save me. Save me”

Then, Our Lady reproaches those who fall into incredulity, “ Don’t be incredulous, my children, I manifest myself to the humble and the uncultured to shame the powerful”. These words remind us of several verses of the New Testament:

• “ God opposes  the proud but He gives his favour to the humble” ( Jm 4, 6)
• “All of you, be humble in your dealings with each other, because God opposes the proud but gives his grace to the humble” ( 1 P 5, 5)
• “Yet God has chosen what the world considers foolish, to shame the wise; he has chosen what the world considers weak to shame the strong. God has chosen common and unimportant people, making use of what is nothing to nullify the things that are, so that no mortal may boast before God” ( 1 Co 1, 27-28)

“I am Our lady, my daughter, of Sorrows. Look how my Heart is (…) These thorns, my daughter, are because of  my consecrated souls, my daughter. Take way two of them…My daughter, this is the cup of sorrow (…) Look how my Heart bleeds”

            How much the sins of unfaithfulness of consecrated souls hurt Our Lady! It should not be strange to us if we think about the sacerdotal vocation and the religious life, and their serious commitments. Indeed, during his Pontificate, Pope Paul VI uttered these bitter words, unknown to most of us, “ The Church suffers mainly for the insubordinate agitated reluctant and destructive attitude of so many of its children- priests, teachers, laics devoted to the service and testimony of Christ alive in the Church alive- against its innermost and essential communion, against its institutional existence, against its canon law, its tradition, its inner cohesion, against its authority that is an irreplaceable principle of truth, unity and charity, even against its requirements of sanctity and sacrifice. It suffers for the defection and scandal of some ecclesiastics and religious people who crucify the Church nowadays”(1) . After reading Paul VI, can  be excessive Our Lady’s and Our Lord’s lamentations at Prado Nuevo about souls, specially consecrated souls- priests, nuns and monks?

“Look at  the punishment, my daughter… (Luz Amparo screams and cries when she sees Hell) My daughter, my daughter, everyone here comes by his own will, my daughter, because they don’t listen to my messages. I don’t want them to condemn themselves”

            Meditation upon the everlasting truths- also the existence of Hell- is very good for our souls that surely will try harder to achieve virtues and get to the eternal salvation and Glory; John Paul II said it clearly “I invite all of you who are listening to my words not to forget our final destiny; life after death, the everlasting happiness or the terrible possibility of the everlasting punishment, the everlasting separation from God, called Hell by the Christian Tradition (cf. Mt 25, 41; 22, 13; 25, 30). A true Christian life cannot exist without a transcendental dimension of life. “In life and death we belong to the Lord”(2)

            Finally, an important aspect in the messages of Prado Nuevo, repeated along them, is the concern about the Holy Father (at that time, John Paul II), for whom we are constantly invited to pray. They warn us- like this message- against the danger that is threatening him, “Pray for the Vicar of Christ, he is in great danger, my children”

            On April 2^nd 2005, our “ beloved John Paul II”, as Benedict XVI likes to call him, passed from this temporary life to the everlasting one; among the amount of news released because of his death, we were reminded of the more than twenty frustrated plans to put an end to his life. Moreover, these way have been more, and perhaps they will never be known; the others, starting by the attempt on his life of Ali Agca, show John Paul II as probably the most threatened Pope in the History of the Church. How well Our Lord and Our Lady knew the danger in which he was!(3)

 NOTE: On Last Month´s Commentary there is a mistake at the 2^nd page,2^nd paragraph, 3^rd line: there  should be written “Zechariah” instead of “Ezekiel”

1 Teaching at the General Audience 2^nd, Apr, 1969. )

2 Sermon at St. Anthony , U.S.A.   13^th, Sept 1987.

3  Newspapers: ABC ( 3-4-2005), El  Mundo ( Documentos,Id., p.9)