THE downtrend of Covid-19 cases in many parts of the Philippines was unusually abrupt, plunging to zero in many areas. The claim for credit was quick to follow: the government and its officials lauded themselves for their vaccination drives and vaccinees congratulated themselves for having offered their arms for jabs.
Those who did all to help curb the pandemic deserve praise, without losing track of the possibility, nay, probability that the unusual pandemic downswing in the country was more of divine response to chants of Oratio Imperata and other prayers for virus deliverance since the days of local lockdowns.
Think: how relish zero pandemic euphoria amid news that in other countries much more inoculated, such as Israel, South Korea and the United Kinddom, among other rich countries, more waves of Covid 19 are being experienced?
My conclusion is that, in these “end times” (not the end of the world, mystics assure us), the spiritual world has never as now been intertwined in the affairs of the world. More than anything else, Divine Mercy needs acknowledgement over and above faith in science that formulated the vaccines.
Yet, “normalcy” continues to escape the vocabulary of credible mystics of our days. Dire messages from Heaven continue to rain upon us through them, including missives told to mystic Sulema Gomez, 67, a native of El Salvador who now lives in Canada, who has been receiving messages allegedly from Jesus Himself and has been under the guidance of at least two priests.
In my last column, I shared the first part of the message she had received from Our Lord Jesus, zeroing in on the Warning as prophesied in the Marian apparitions in Garabandal, Spain as well as in other divine manifestations to other people such as St. Faustina Kowalska. The Warning is the first of three major Garabandal prophecies, to be followed by the Great Miracle and, if not enough conversion happens, the Chastisement as never before in human history.
And so let me share more messages from Sulema.
In a message given on February 19, 2011, Jesus told her: "The days go by and people do not want to prepare to purify the state of their souls. They continue to live as if nothing was going to happen, but, in truth, I tell you my child: the day of the Illumination of Conscience is fast approaching! It will come like a thief. As in Noah's time people continue to drink, eat, feast without taking Us seriously, without taking the time to try to be in a state of grace, without taking the time to put themselves in service attire so that the Lord and their God may find them with their lamps well lit and with a good supply of the oil of faith."
On May 21, 2011, the Blessed Mother told Sulema: "Like a good mother, I want to prepare you to live this great event of the Illumination of Consciences in peace, in surrender to the Divine Will. It will be a movement of love and mercy where all the children of the earth must enter to experience this moment, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Your hearts must open to welcome the necessary graces, without which you will be unable to live this supernatural experience well. For your souls will be in the presence of the glory, the majesty, the omnipotence of God the Son who comes to show you the state of your lives, to show you where your sins have led you. Then everyone will know where to go."
In her earlthy lifetime, St. Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938) was granted an experience of the Warning. Recalling the experience, she wrote:
"Once I was summoned to the judgment [seat] of God. I stood alone before the Lord. Jesus appeared such as we know him during his Passion. After a moment, his wounds disappeared except for five, those in his hands, his feet and his side. Suddenly I saw the complete condition of my soul as God sees it. I could clearly see all that is displeasing to God. I did not know that even the smallest transgressions will have to be accounted for."
Further, Our Lord Jesus told St. Faustina: "Write this: before I come as the Just Judge, I come as the King of Mercy. Before the day of justice arrives, this sign in the sky will be given to mankind. All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the Cross will be seen in the sky, and from the holes where the hands and the feet of the Savior were nailed will come forth a brilliant light, which will illuminate the Earth for a period of time. This will take place shortly before the last day.”
In yet another apparition to young Grete Ganseforth in Heede, Germany in 1945, OUr Lord Jesus also cited the Warning in the following message:
"Humanity has not listened to My holy Mother, revealed at Fatima to exhort her to do penance. So I will warn the world myself... I am all ready. The terra will shake and be shaken. It will be terrible: a small judgment! But don't be afraid. I am with you. You will rejoice and thank Me. Those who are waiting for Me have My help, My grace, My love. But for those who are not in a state of grace, it will be frightening... I will make myself known to men. Every soul will recognize Me as its God. I come! I am at the door. The earth will shake and moan."
I have already shared in this space what a Garabandal visionary said about the Warning, but it is always worth recalling the words of seer Conchita Gonzalez on June 2, 1965:
"Before the miracle, the Virgin told me on January 1, 1965, there will be a warning that the world make amends. This Warning, like the Punishment, is very dreadful for the good and for the bad: for the good to bring them closer to God, for the bad to warn them that the end of time is coming and that these are the last warnings... It will not cause death by itself, but it is possible that some die of it so the emotion will be intense. Death would be a thousand times better. We will see that this Warning comes from God... each human being will therefore see the ugliness of his sins and their participation in the Passion of Christ."
Don Stefano Gobbi, founder of the Marian Movement of Priests, was also given information about the Warning which he wrote in the now famous “blue book” compiling mystic events and messages that he had experienced. He recalled the Blessed Mother as saying:
"The Holy Spirit will come to establish the glorious reign of Christ and it will be a reign of grace, of holiness, of love, of justice and of peace. With His divine love, He will open the doors of hearts and illuminate all consciences. Every person will see himself in the burning fire of divine truth. It will be like a judgment in miniature. And then Jesus Christ will bring His glorious reign in the world."