OUR LADY:

Raise all your objects; all will be blessed for poor sinners…

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

COMMENTARY UPON MESSAGES

The previous month comment referred to a special number of the French magazine Chrétiens Magazine dedicated to Prado Nuevo because of the 25^th Anniversary of the Apparitions. Father René Laurentin, the well- known theologian whose studies on Marian apparitions are the most reliable, took part in it. Since it is so valuable and has produced a great interest, we offer our readers its full content just as it was published by the magazine, so that you can read it and photocopy it.

El Escorial 25º Anniversary

“The Apparitions to Luz Amparo, a poor woman, in the Real Villa of El Escorial began ten days before those of Medjugorje (24^th June 1981) and five months before those of Kibeho (28^th November 1981).

They were almost unknown when I met Luz Amparo in 1985. I could feel then the transparency of this woman, poor among the poor, and I was amazed at the incredible trials she and her mission had to endure. The Church, prudent, was reluctant for long time. The city Hall and the priest of the Parish directed a battle against her and the pilgrimage. The pilgrims`access to the ash tree of Prado Nuevo (place of the apparitions) was forbidden and fines rained on buses and cars.

It surprised me a lot that Heaven raised Luz Amparo when nobody expected it: the aggressive Municipality made an absolute fool of itself and lost the elections. The priest of the Parish asked pardon to Amparo and her followers; during his agony, he confessed having been the origin of numerous inconveniences. Then, the cardinal archbishop of Madrid would visit Amparo during an entire day, before being retired, and he would recognize her foundations officially.

Everything came to a favourable end in El Escorial on the religious, civil, and institutional side, but above all, on the spiritual aspect in this place of prayer and conversion thanks to Amparo’s deep life, a victim soul from her childhood to her married life in poverty, as well as the pursuits and oppositions she had to endure now that she did not expect them.”

René Laurentin

In June 14^th 1981 the so called "Apparitions of El Escorial"begun; therefore it is almost its 25^th anniversary! A very significant date. God’s Mother appeared saying the following words: "I am Our Lady of Sorrows. I want a chapel to be built in this place in my honour. I want people to come here from all over the world to meditate on the Passion my Son endured, because it is forgotten. If they do it people will be cured. This water will cure. All those who come here to say the holy Rosary everyday will be blessed by me. Lots of you will be sealed with a cross on your foreheads. Do penance. Pray".

Lots of messages have followed that first one at Prado Nuevo, happening every month from 1985 to May 4^th 2002 ( date of the last message) although blessings continue on first Saturdays of month, but without message. Some are surprised at the high number of messages; indeed, if we compare it to Lourdes or Fatima, the difference is noticeable. However, is there an absolute criterion in the study of Marian apparitions about the limit of Heaven manifestations? Certainly not. Our Lady answered this question: "I appear, my child, where I want and when I want. I say to all those who believe that this cannot be possible, who are you to tell me when and where I have to appear? I warn you, my children, as a mother warns her child when he is in great danger" (May 20^th 1984).

Father Laurentin, in his book Current Apparitions of the Virgin Mary, wrote: "To the eyes of our world, the Virgin has a mission of Mother. This mission has been intensified in the last times, said Grignion of Montfort"[1]. Nevertheless, there are recent apparitions of Mary, recognized by the corresponding ecclesiastical authority, characterized for their length; for example, in Betania (Cua), Venezuela, officially accepted by Monseigneur Pio Bello Ricardo in a Pastoral Instruction[2] on November 21^st 1987.

I have studied Prado Nuevo del Escorial and Luz Amparo in the monographic work mentioned above and here there are several quotations: "I met her in El Escorial, in 1985, in the house of a family where she worked as a housemaid (...). She is natural, calm and simple, not impassioned or with pretensions, not moved by sentimentalism. Despite her poverty, her dress is modest, clean and impeccable. She does not feel upset when being asked difficult questions and answers briefly to the main inquiry presented (...). After so many misfortunes, it is surprising that Amparo has kept this serenity, this simplicity, this dignity, this moderation that shows all her person. It is a testimony to which homage should be paid and it makes us desire these cases of holiness be recognized with more promptness. From an evangelical point of view, there is no doubt these exemplary people should not be judged by sufficiency, but by humbleness. At least, I have had the feeling of contemplating her giant from my smallness"[3].

What has occurred since that moment that took place twenty years ago? Pilgrims have not stopped coming, especially on first Saturdays; testimonies of conversions are innumerable, the faithful persevere in the sacramental and Christian life, religious and priestly vocations are abundant, the apostolate of the lay has been revived, etc. In spite of these doubtless fruits, this Maran apparition is not one of the best-known and extended, as Medjugorje, for example, whose beginning coincides in month and year with El Escorial. Carlos Vidal, who took charge of carrying out the Spanish version of the work cited above, made an scheme of our Lady`s apparitions in the course of history by assigning them a mystery of the Rosary, according to their historical moment and their content. Following his criteria, the fourth sorrowful mystery would correspond to Prado Nuevo, the carrying of the Cross to Mount Calvary, which implies oblivion, contempt... In spite of it, the fruits coming from the ash tree of Prado Nuevo, where the Virgin put her immaculate feet, are notorious and have been recognized by the Church. Thus, on June 14^th 1994 (anniversary of the first apparition), the cardinal archbishop of Madrd, D. Ángel Suquía y Goicoechea sets canonically the Public Association of Faithful "Repairers of Our Lady the Virgin of Sorrows" and The Pious Foundation "Virgin of Sorrows” because of Luz Amparo´s request in order to carry out charitable works. The cardinal archbishop of Madrid named two chaplains for the Foundation"Virgin of Sorrows in the years 1996 and 2001. The Repairing Sisters` branch has currently over eighty sisters, dedicated to attend the "Houses of Love and Mercy".

Pilgrims keep on going to El Escorial and they expect the Hierarchy to be pronounced, in a more complete way than It did in the only one relesed note in 1985. This note did not express a final judgement but it was a prudent measure for it just gave evidence of the facts without emitting a judgment. The current cardinal of Madrid, D. Antonio María Rouco Varela, has adopted a prudent but determined attitude in order to give a resolution of this case, now that the messages have concluded and the positive signs are abundant; he has been delivered the corresponding documentation for this end.

With respect to the messages, we know that they follow the catholic faith, as several theological studies explain. Simple in their use of language but deep in their content, they revive the most authentic roots of Christianity for they are a kind of warning sign to the indifferent consciences of Catholics. If we examine the apparition of El Escorial completely keeping in mind all aspects involved (sighter, messages, form in which they are produced, etc.), we can affirm it has the same characteristics of other private revelations as the ones that took place in Lourdes, Fatima and other places. The discernment and the final judgement corresponds to the Hierarchy of Madrid, but the main elements go this way: a humble instrument, Luz Amparo; her obedience and fidelity to the Church and Its priests; abundant fruits of Christian life; universal messages in harmony with the biblical Revelation; specific content for these current times the Church and Humankind are living; the way ecstasys take place ( they have been recorded in images or videos) lead us to think they could be included in the prophetic ecstacy kind of private revelations through which Jesus or the Virgin give their message by means of a sighter, etc. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “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." (n.67).

Has it come the time for Prado Nuevo and the fulfilment of Our Lady’s requests? Meanwhile, Luz Amparo Cuevas, this faithful daugther of the Church, keeps on sacrifycing in a silent holocaust for love to the Church and souls; she does not ask anything in return, but to remain faithful to the mission that God`s Son entrusted her. The second time she talked with the Lord, before the messages of Prado Nuevo, He made her take part in his Passion, she suffered an intense pain and He asked her: "You can save many souls with your sorrow (...). Do you accept it, my child?" Amparo offered Him her fiat, renewed by sorrow and acceptance everyday from that moment: “With your help I will endure it” (November 15^th 1980).

(Chrétiens MAGAZINE, Nº 191, June 15th, 2006, pp. 10-13).

[1] Apariciones actuales de la Virgen María, René Lauretin, p. 22 ( Madrid, 1989)