Our Lady of Good Success
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Our Lady of Good Success
(Prophecies for Our Times)
Prophetic revelations made to Venerable Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres
This article is based on excerpts taken from the 18th Century
manuscript entitled The Admirable Life of Mother Mariana of Jesus Torres,
written by Prior Manuel de Souza Pereira, Franciscan Provincial in Quito,
Ecuador and director of the Convent Mother Mariana founded. This manuscript was
written a century after her death. Mother Mariana is linked mysteriously to our
times by the visions Our Lady showed her of the 20th Century over 350 years
ago. This apparition has been approved by the Church and Mother Mariana has
been declared Venerable in the first step towards her canonization.
On January 16, 1635, surrounded by her community and her
Franciscan confessors, Mother Mariana made a solemn profession of Faith, and
then asked, as a last favor, to die on the ground, in imitation of her Seraphic
Father, St. Francis. After receiving Holy Communion and the Sacrament of Extreme
Unction, she foretold the exact hour of her death: 3 p.m. Just before she died,
she read her last will and testament, a moving testimony that gave her daughters
inestimable advice about the religious life along with many prophecies
concerning the order. At its end, she turned to the priests: "My fathers and
sisters, the time has come for me to depart; recommend my soul to God with the
appropriate prayers. I thank you for everything. Always, I beseech you, have
this convent and your sisters in your care. I die, as I was born, joyously and
peacefully in the arms of my mother, the Seraphic Order." Two tears rolled
down her cheek, she sighed, and with an angelic smile, that blessed soul left
her body.
After death, her body remained flexible, her complexion rosy,
and the charming smile on her face gave her every appearance of being alive.
During the wake, the sight of a blind girl was restored when a flower
from the crown that encircled Mother Mariana's head was touched to the her eyes.
In 1906, during the remodeling of the Convent, her
three-century old tomb was opened. They discovered the body of Mother Mariana de
Jesus whole and incorrupt, complete with her habit and the articles of
penance that had been placed in the tomb with her. An exquisite aroma of lilies
emanated from her whole body. Thus God preserves some of his saints who practice
heroic virtue and maintain holy chastity in their earthly lives.
Mother Mariana possessed the gift of discernment of spirits,
which Our Dear Lord so often gives to founders of religious orders. Since she
could read the hearts of her daughters, she would comfort them, telling them how
to progress in the spiritual life and explain how it was necessary to die to
oneself in order to practice real virtue. She repeatedly warned them to guard
the common life of the Convent and obey the Rule. When prayer and community life
are wanting, she said, everything falls short, for the religious without prayer
is like a soldier without arms in combat. She told them to be patient in their
sicknesses, since illnesses are the best and most meritorious penances, which
free souls from illusions, vanity and pride. She especially warned her daughters
to guard against that "cursed human respect, which makes one ask:
'What will others say about this?'" Instead, she counseled that they
should guide their lives in the cloisters according to the norms of the Gospel
and ground themselves firmly on the strong foundation of humility.
Let us consider some of the revelations that Mother Mariana was
blessed to receive from Our Lord and Our Lady.
Instructions and Advice
Our Lady: "Oh, if only human beings and religious
knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they
would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into
possession of it! But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamour of
honors and human greatness while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing
that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which in religious
houses destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless
practice of religious virtues and fraternal charity and that child-like
simplicity which makes souls so dear to my Divine Son and to me, their
Mother.
"Remember the words of the Royal Prophet: 'How marvelous are
the works of the Lord!' Be convinced of this truth; teach and impress your
daughters both living and those to come that they should love their divine
vocations. Reveal to them the glorious place that God and I are saving for those
who belong to Us, our heirs.
"Woe to the world should it lack monasteries and convents!
Men do not comprehend their importance, for, if they understood, they would do
all in their power to multiply them, because in them can be found the remedy for
all physical and moral evils... No one on the face of the earth is aware whence
comes the salvation of souls, the conversion of great sinners, the end of great
scourges, the fertility of the land, the end of pestilence and wars, and the
harmony between nations. All this is due to the prayers that rise up from
monasteries and convents.
"O, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time
given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how
different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall
to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for
their downfall!"
Our Lady emphasized the importance of the Sacrament of
Penance and the important role of priests: "See and contemplate the grandeur of
this restoring and life-giving Sacrament of Penance, so forgotten and even
scorned by ungrateful men, who in their foolish madness, do not realize that it
is the only sure means of salvation after one has lost his baptismal innocence.
What is most grievous is that even the ministers of My Most Holy Son do not give
to it the value that they should, viewing with cold indifference this valuable
and precious treasure, which has been placed in their hands for the restoration
of souls redeemed by the Blood of the Redeemer. There are those who consider
hearing confession as a loss of time and a futile thing. O, alas! If priests
were given to see directly that which you are now contemplating and were
enlightened with the Light that now illuminates you, they would then recognize
this gift!..."
Our Lord: "For in all times I have need of valiant
souls to save My Church and the prevaricating world." Our Lord also made Mother
Mariana understand more clearly than ever before that devotion to the
Passion, to the Blessed Sacrament and to Our Lady
constitutes the support and mainstay of religious communities.
"Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible
chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but for
those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the
perfection of their state, to be the salt of the earth, the masters of truth,
and the deflectors of Divine Wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they
degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God they quicken the
rigor of the punishments..." (During the 41 years of St. John Vianney's
ministry at Ars, France, no damage was ever done by storms.)
He also assured Mother Mariana that He was greatly pleased by
those souls who take upon themselves the sublime task of suffering for the
sanctification of the Clergy by means of their prayers, sacrifices and penances,
and promised such souls a special glory in Heaven.
The ingratitude and betrayal of religious souls, so dear to His
Heart, would compel Him "to let My Justice fall upon My beloved cloisters –
and even over cities – when those so near to Me who belong to Me reject My
spirit, abandoning Me alone in Tabernacles, rarely remembering that I live there
especially for love of them, even more than for the rest of the faithful."
Imprudent admissions and internal abuses permitted by superiors are the ruin of
communities. "Such communities can only be preserved – while they exist – at
the cost of much penance, humiliations and daily and solid practice of the
religious who are good. Woe to these corrupt members during those times of
calamity! Weep for them, beloved spouse, and implore that the time of so much
suffering will be shortened." He warned her that the Chastisement would be
severe for those religious who squandered the many graces with their pride and
vainglory to secure positions of power and rank and He especially condemned the
lukewarm religious.
Mother Mariana saw that the greatest interior torments of the
Sacred Heart were the ingratitude and indifference of those souls
who, chosen among millions to be His spouses and ministers, left Him in the most
absolute solitude. And this despite the fact that in the Holy Sacrament, He
would live under the same roof with His spouses and come into the hand of His
priests at the simple call of their voices at the most solemn moment of the
Consecration.
Prophecies
Our Lady prophesied that at the end of the 19th Century
and especially in the 20th Century that Satan would reign almost completely
by the means of the Masonic sect. The Queen of Heaven told Mother Mariana
that this battle would reach its most acute stage because of various unfaithful
religious, who, "under the appearance of virtue and bad-spirited zeal, would
turn upon Religion, who nourished them at her breast." "During this
time," she continued, "insomuch as this poor country will lack the
Christian spirit, the Sacrament of Extreme Unction will be little esteemed. Many
people will die without receiving it – either because of the negligence of
their families or their false sentimentality that tries to protect the sick
from seeing the gravity of their situations, or because they will rebel against
the spirit of the Catholic Church, impelled by the malice of the devil. Thus
many souls will be deprived of innumerable graces, consolations and the strength
they need to make that great leap from time to eternity..." "As for the
Sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with His Church, it
will be attacked and profaned in the fullest sense of the word. Masonry, which
will then be in power, will enact iniquitous laws with the objective of doing
away with this Sacrament, making it easy for everyone to live in sin,
encouraging the procreation of illegitimate children born without the blessing
of the Church. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the
precious light of Faith until if reaches the point that there will be an
almost total and general corruption of customs. The effects of secular
education will increase, which will be one reason for the lack of priestly
and religious vocations..."
"The Sacred Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed,
oppressed and despised. ...The demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the
Lord in every possible way and he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to
deviate them from the spirit of their vocation, corrupting many of them. These
corrupted priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will incite the
hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic and
Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan will
bring enormous sufferings to the good Pastors of the Church...."
"Moreover, in these unhappy times, there will be
unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will
conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost. Innocence will almost no
longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. In this supreme moment
of need of the Church, those who should speak will fall silent."
"But know, beloved daughter, that when your name is made
known in the 20th century, there will be many who will not believe, claiming
that this devotion is not pleasing to God...A simple humble faith in the truth
of My apparitions to you, My predilect child, will be reserved for humble and
fervent souls docile to the inspirations of grace, for Our Heavenly Father
communicates His secrets to the simple of heart, and not to those whose hearts
are inflated with pride, pretending to know what they do not, or self-satisfied
with empty knowledge."
During this time, Our Lady foretold, "the secular Clergy
will leave much to be desired because priests will become careless in their
sacred duties. Lacking the divine compass, they will stray from the road traced
by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and
riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain. How the Church will suffer
during this dark night! Lacking a Prelate and Father to guide them with paternal
love, gentleness, strength, wisdom and prudence, many priests will lose their
spirit, placing their souls in great danger. This will mark the arrival of My
hour."
"Therefore, clamor insistently without tiring and weep with
bitter tears in the privacy of your heart, imploring our Celestial Father that,
for love of the Eucharistic Heart of my Most Holy Son and His Precious Blood
shed with such generosity and the profound bitterness and sufferings of His
cruel Passion and Death, He might take pity on His ministers and bring to an
end those Ominous times, sending to this Church the Prelate who will restore
the spirit of its priests."
On December 8, 1634, the feast of the Immaculate Conception,
three archangels and their Queen appeared to Mother Mariana. St. Gabriel was
carrying a Ciborium filled with Hosts which Our Lady explained: "This
signifies the Most August Sacrament of the Eucharist, which will be distributed
by my Catholic priests to faithful Christians belonging to the Holy Roman,
Catholic and Apostolic Church, whose visible head is the Pope, the King of
Christianity. His pontifical infallibility will be declared a dogma of the Faith
by the same Pope chosen to proclaim the dogma of the Mystery of My Immaculate
Conception. He will be persecuted and imprisoned in the Vatican by the unjust
usurpation of the Pontifical States through the iniquity, envy and avarice of an
earthly monarch." This holy Pope was Blessed Pius IX, who fulfilled
every prediction made by Our Lady. His body, being exhumed for beatification in
2000, was found miraculously preserved in the tomb where it had lain for more
than a century. His face still showed a striking serenity in death.
Another most interesting prophecy of Our Lady: "In the 19th
Century there will be a truly Catholic president, a man of character whom God
Our Lord will give the palm of martyrdom on the square adjoining this Convent.
He will consecrate the Republic to the Sacred Heart of My Most Holy Son, and
this consecration will sustain the Catholic Religion in the years that will
follow, which will be ill-fated ones for the Church. These years, during which
the evil sect of Masonry will take control of the civil government – will see a
cruel persecution of all religious communities, and they will also strike out
violently against this one of mine."
The "truly Catholic" president of Ecuador, Gabriel Garcia
Moreno (1821-1875), consecrated the republic to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in
1873. Pope Pius IX paid him tribute as a man who had died "the death of a
martyr...a victim to his Faith and Christian charity." Gabriel Moreno's
incorrupt heart and the famous painting of Our Lady of Quito can be seen
in the Cathedral of Quito.
Conclusion
We are living in a time of the great crisis of Faith and morals
as prophesied by Our Lady. The confusion is of such magnitude that it is not
only subverting the temporal sphere, but also penetrates the walls of the Church
itself. Indeed, as Our Lady prophesied, the corruption of customs has become
general and the precious light of Faith almost extinct. Yet the message of Our
Lady of Good Success ends with a note of great hope: When everything will seem
lost and paralyzed, that will be "the happy beginning of the complete
restoration. This will mark the arrival of my hour, when I, in a marvelous way,
will dethrone the proud and cursed Satan, trampling him under my feet and
fettering him in the infernal abyss." It is the promise echoed by Our Lady
again at Fatima in 1917: "In the end, My Immaculate Heart will triumph."
Thus it seems opportune to turn to Our Lady of Good Success and
invoke Her, begging for every good success – both temporal and spiritual. It is
the moment to ask for her orientation and certainty amid this storm, and the
courage and strength to keep aloft the standard of the Faith.
Finally, let us pray that Our Lady will intervene quickly to
restore the Church and society, so that she may reassume her throne and reign
again in glory as Queen of all the earth.
www.olrl.org/prophecy/
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