The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Feast of Our Lady of Good Success (Ecuador & Spain)
J.M.J.
OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS (Prophecies for Our Times)
Prophetic revelations made to Venerable Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres
(taken from http://www.olrl.org/prophecy/goodsuccess.shtml - a two page
brochure available for 5 cents each.)
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, and 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.
-----------------------------
See our catalog/order form (http://olrl.org/library/oform.shtml) to order
the above article. They are priced low to encourage widespread distribution.
-----------------------------
More information on Our Lady of Good Success and Venerable Mother Mariana de
Jesus Torres is available at
http://www.traditioninaction.org/OLGS/olgshome.htm.
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Sincerely in Christ,
Our Lady of the Rosary Library
"Pray and work for souls"
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