Friends, Christians, Believers, lend your ears to your Mother. Like the voice calling out in the wilderness, she is begging to us, though many among us do not recognise her divine voice. Every apparition of our Holy Mother in modern times, right from Lasalette in 1846 through Lourdes, Fatima, Amsterdam, Monti Chiari, Akitha, Garabandhal and Medjugorje was primarily to prepare us for the greatest event ever to take place in the history of the world: the glorious second coming of Jesus Christ.
Mary has been guiding her children at every step during these turbulent times. Sometimes through apparitions, sometimes through messages and sometimes through inner locutions. We can observe a gradual progression in the way our Mother reveals these important messages to us. At Lasalette and Lourdes it was general in nature. By the time of the Fatima apparitions, the messages began to focus on specific points and this trend was more visible in the apparitions of Amsterdam. When we analyse the Marian apparition at Monti Chiari, we find our Beloved Virgin Mother inviting our attention to three things which hurt her most and were represented as three swords piercing her heart. The first sword means loss of the vocation as a priest or a monk. The second sword means priests, monks, and nuns who live in deadly sin. The third sword means priests and monks who while giving up their vocation, often lose also their faith, and become enemies of the Church. Our Lady asked for “PRAYER, SACRIFICE and PENANCE” as remedy.
Messages at Garabandhal and Akitha are in many ways a continuation of the Fatima messages. They are more vivid and intended to give us a deep insight into what awaited us in the coming years. Medjugorje apparitions which commenced in 1981 and continued till 2020, presents the picture of a world passing through the birthpangs of the great event.
Half a century ago – 1972 to be precise – Fr Stefano Gobbi, an Italian Priest, who was deeply pained by the decision of some of his friends to desert their vocation, was spending his time in prayer. And the place he chose for it was, by choice or by default, Fatima! He didn’t know what to do because by that time, deserting the priestly vocation had become commonplace. On 8th May 1972, while in prayer, the Blessed Virgin Mother started to talk to him by way of inner locutions. For the next twenty-five years, the Holy Mother was guiding Fr Gobbi to spread her messages to an unbelieving world. They were compiled to make the famous book ‘To the Priests, Our Lady’s Beloved Sons’ also fondly called ‘the Blue Book’ which is now available in all major languages. The series of messages ended on 31st December 1997 by when Fr Gobbi had received a total of 604 messages.
Like any other Marian apparition or message, here too our Mother’s attempt was to help us identify the signs of the times in which we live and prepare us for the coming final battle leading to the ultimate victory of her immaculate heart.
Today we invite you to spend a few minutes with us meditating on message no. 450 received on 19th May, the feast of Pentecost of the year 1991.
” Now you have entered into the days of the second Pentecost. Therefore, this fellowship need to be spread to every part of the world. I request the entire Church to unite in the spiritual fellowship of my immaculate heart. Then the Holy Spirit will reveal the fullness of truth to you. The Holy Spirit will lead you to the mysteries of the Divine Word and enlighten your intellect so that you will understand what is written in the gospels about the times in which you live now. He will help you in understanding the signs of the times.
These are the times of the great apostasy to be followed by the appearance of the Antichrist as foretold in the Scripture. It is a period of sorrow, agony and untold suffering to each one of you. It is the time of the final events for preparing you for the glorious second coming of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit gives full witness to Jesus Christ. He declares that Jesus Christ is the only begotten eternal son of the Father and that he is one with the Father. Everything was created through him. He is the Word Incarnate. He is the king of the entire universe who is to come again to re-install his rule in this world.
Holy Spirit prepares your heart and soul for the second coming of Jesus Christ. For this reason, the Spirit pours out His gifts in abundance when compared to the initial days of the Church. Because we have already entered the end times which is the precursor to the coming new age”.
These lines are enough to satisfy anybody who still doubts the second coming of Jesus Christ. Often we hear the sarcastic remark ‘Will he come again?’. For a Christian there should not be any doubt at all, because he repeats this eternal truth everyday, be it in the Creed or in the Holy Mass. Yet, if many Christians across the world still consider the second coming as a myth, they have nothing to blame for that except their own lack of faith.
Two decades have passed since our Mother told us about the impending perils. She categorically warned us that the future years will be marked by large-scale apostasy. She warned us that the Antichrist is preparing to reveal himself to the world. Those days will bring great pain and agony to the faithful. A second Pentecost will enlighten the hearts and souls of Mary’s children during these perilous times. The Spirit will help us in understanding the signs of the times in which we live. More importantly, the Spirit will lead us to the secrets of the Word, where everything about the end times is foretold. Our Mother is candid in revealing that we have already entered the end times that precedes the dawn of a new age.
Two decades! And we are right in the midst of the events foretold by our Mother. We are living in those days, where all the prophecies about the end of the time as appearing in the Bible are to be fulfilled. Are we really aware of it? If not, ask the Holy Spirit. He will open up the sealed prophecies for you. He will ignite your hearts by the Divine Word. This ignition of the heart is the first thing we need to realise the real Jesus Christ. Those two disciples on their way to Emmaus did confess this truth; that when Jesus Christ explained the Scripture to them, their hearts were burning within them.
Moving to message 451, we find our Holy Virgin designating us as the Apostles of the end times. She demands from us the courage to proclaim the truths of the Catholic faith and to warn others about false teachings. Our Lady’s loving advice to her children is that they should not love themselves nor this world. Instead she calls on us to be in prayer with utmost humility and silence in a spirit of sacrifice and charity. We should develop a deep union with God. But remember that it will make us unknown to the outside world and others will ignore us. We will have to face many obstacles. We may be persecuted and treated as outcasts. But our Holy Mother reminds us that these sufferings are essential for the success of the mission with which we are designated as the Apostles of the end times.
Our Lady continues that we should carry out our mission of evangelisation by reflecting the light of Christ in our life. In this context evangelisation primarily means re-evangelising the Church. Listen to what the Mother says; “The responsibility of undertaking the second evangelisation rests on you. Evangelise the Church. The Church has been going away from the spirit of Christ and given herself to be tempted by the pleasures of this world. This trend has grown deep into the Church and has spread everywhere. Re-evangelise the humankind who after listening to the gospel two millennium ago has again become atheists. Take the gospel a second time to those who have fallen victim to false teachings, evil and sin. Proclaim the gospel again to those who are swayed by the wind of wrong philosophies and doctrines. Re-evangelise those individuals and nations who have turned practical atheists by surrendering themselves to impurity, pride, money, dissipation and greed for power”.
Anybody hearing? The Holy Virgin is in a hurry. That is why nowadays she gives apparitions in a scale unparallelled in the history. She knows that the time at her disposal is short and unless her children are properly warned, there is every chance that they will be tempted to exchange the eternal truths of God for the falsities of the eternal liar. ” Today, the Church is ascending the Golgotha, with a heavy cross on her shoulders. The spirit of this world has entered her heart and spread everywhere. How many priests and religious have their spiritual life withered because they offered themselves to be defeated by worldliness!” (message 459). These words of lamentation is a repetition of what she told Fr Gobbi sixteen years ago; “My messages are multiplying by as many times as the voices of my ministers (cardinals, bishops, priests) refuse to preach the truth. How many of my children dwell in spiritual poverty caused by the lack of the Word, all this as a result of many priests renouncing their faith! The truths which are so important for the conduct of your life today are no longer proclaimed; for example, the teaching about the paradise which awaits you; about the Cross of my Son which saves you; about sin which wounds the heart of Jesus and my heart; about hell into which countless souls are rushing headlong every day; about the urgent need for prayer and penance”( message 85).
Our Holy Mother’s messages are relevant in our days more than ever. A journey through the messages Our Lady gave to Fr Gobbi is worth for the pain it demands. The way in which she guides him and takes him to distant countries to prepare the world, the maternal love and care she exhibits even while warning us about impending perils, and the steadfast faith which she demands from us – and of which she was the pinnacle- and the depths of her revelations about the events of the end times are all meant not for Fr Gobbi alone. As Mary’s beloved children, we are equally entitled to go through the same experience.
Before concluding, let us have a quick look at the final message (message no 604 delivered on 31 December 1997). “This century has been under the clutches of Satan. For that reason, the evil of atheism – theoretical as well as practical – led my people astray. They started worshipping the idols of materialism, wealth, entertainment, power, pride and impurity in place of the true God. Satan has been successful in tempting all the nations with his cup of lust…….. Today humankind is under the influence of Satan. Freemasonry and other evil forces are ruling over them. The Church has been eclipsed due to the smoke of Satan….False doctrines are taught and widely propagated to the extent of leading the humankind to lose the faith in Christ and his gospel… Divine laws are broken publicly…. Continued acts of sin and justifying them is the reason for the light of God’s grace and His presence disappearing from the Church”.
Do we need any more commentaries about our times, our beloved Church, the world at large and the abysmal depths to which humanity has been gradually sinking, all because of neglecting the true God and what he commanded us? A quarter century after Our Lady delivered her final message to Fr Gobbi, where do we find ourselves? This is the time for introspection, which should lead us – and through us the whole world- to a deep conversion. Time is limited. Let us seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the help of our Blessed Virgin Mother to understand the current events in the light of prophecies given in the Bible. This is the only way to be prepared for the glorious and imminent second coming of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Let us recite the prayer given to Fr Stefano Gobbi by our Holy Mother:
‘Come, Holy Spirit,
Come by means of the
Powerful intercession of the
Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Your well beloved Spouse.’
Time is limited, we know. But it should not discourage us from reciting the prayer as much times as possible. It is a small prayer which doesn’t need much time. But its effects are unbelievable. Try it and amass the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially the gift of wisdom to discern truth from falsity, good from bad, true doctrine from false teaching and finally true pastors from false prophets. This will help us in distinguishing the Antichrist, when he reveals himself to the world claiming to be the returning Christ. And remember; that day is not too far!
