<http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0bZ1KPLegkk/SPQNoeLpDYI/AAAAAAAAIuA/OktSOie...>“The
girls were walking through one of the streets, already in ecstasy.”

An Unforgettable
Holiday Weekend

Among the many people who came was a lawyer from Palencia named Luis Navas
Carrillo. Not satisfied merely with devoutly living those days, he also made
a report of them, which now serves us well for that period of the year 1962:

«After passing through the mountain pass at Piedras Luengas and from there
viewing on the left the fantastic panorama of the Picos de Europa mountains,
we told the narrow and tortuous highway that went down to the rapids of the
Nansa
River. And it was well into the afternoon when we came to Cossío. It was
June 29th.

We began the ascent to Garabandal. The temperature was pleasant and the sky
clear. During the way up, I couldn't put out of my mind the memory of
another day that was very different — the dark and stormy October 18th that
I had
experienced in the same place. Today the soft mountain breeze purified our
lungs and prepared our spirits for the possible beneficial actions of the
Virgin Mary.

In the village, we had time to rest about an hour and a half. Afterward, at
nightfall, they told us that the girls were walking through one of the
streets,
already in ecstasy. We easily found them and joined a group of people who
were following them toward the Pines. We lost them from view a little beyond
the Cuadro since — according to the instructions that had been given by the
Most Holy Virgin, as they said — we all were to stay at a distance.(9) There
we were waiting, a little anguished, since some heard, or thought they heard
faint shrieks,
that in the silence of the night and darkness had to remind many of the
screams on the night of Corpus Christi.

After a while the girls appeared and they came down toward us. And they
stayed rather close; sufficiently close so that with illumination from
a powerful
flashlight we were able to observe how they fell and how they got up off the
stony ground. The beams of light from the flashlights that the girls
themselves carried, and with which they had gone out of their houses to come
to the rendezvous
with the Virgin, lent a special charm to the scene. Not far from them, Mari
Loli's father and Jacinta's mother could be distinguished slightly in front
of the others.

The silence, which seemed a strange echo on that serene and starry night,
helped us to meditate.(10)

After the ecstasy had ended, the girls showed tears on their faces and
serious and sad expressions that contrasted with the joyful countenances that
they usually had.

The impressions from that first day tempered my spirit so as to understand
better this array of things that were beyond reason and the senses, that
only could be comprehended by opening wide the eyes of faith.

June 30th, Saturday

This was the most moving of the three days that I spent at the time in
Garabandal.

At the beginning of the evening, we were waiting in Conchita's house. Her
mother told her to put on her boots, sensing that the time was drawing near.
A little later the girl fell into ecstasy, went out from her home, and
drawing with her all the strangers and many from the village, went praying
the rosary through the streets and alleys. Some of the decades were recited,
others were sung. The voice of the girl in ecstasy, so musical, so full of
real, sincere and profound piety, penetrated into us, and immersed us
in a sensation
of well-being and serenity.

I had never seen the girls walking backwards; but I had heard talk about it,
and actually with a certain repugnance bordering on ridicule. Now I can
testify that that by its harmony, by its grace and rhythm, appeared to be a
thrilling celestial dance.

She stopped and made the sign of the cross on the hood and windshield. It
occurred to me that perhaps the Virgin wanted to bless and show her approval
this way to the only taxi driver who, at the time, was taking the risk of
bringing people over those dangerous roads.

Not long afterwards, the visionary went to search for Mari Cruz. The door of
her house was locked. Conchita knocked on it forcefully and persistently
until it was opened. Then she went up the steep staircase, came to the place
where her companion was, and put the crucifix on her lips. It appeared that
Conchita didn't forget Mari Cruz even during her vision, asking the Virgin
to appear to Mari Cruz with the same frequency as with the others.

Afterward, to my great surprise, she took us to the cemetery, through those
solitary and somber trails. In front of the gate, she stopped for a while
and solemnly made the sign of the cross toward the inside, as imparting a
blessing upon the graves.(11)

On returning, she entered the house of her aunt Maximina. And finally came
the time for the race, which for me was a genuine novelty. Before starting
it, she stopped and extended her arms slightly; she went like a wind through
the
winding path, without touching the walls, the fences, or the stones that
were scattered everywhere — without forgetting the low balconies, against
which one could hang his head, as happened to me. We couldn't follow her,
much less
catch up to her.

When she returned, we all went toward the church, and in the churchyard
itself a remarkable rosary concluded what had lasted so long and contained
so many incidents. There the Salve was sung and the Credo recited. My
attention was certainly attracted when the girl, after Holy Catholic Church,
clearly added Apostolic and Roman. They told me that she only did this when she
recited the Credo in ecstasy.(12)

Mari Loli had the second vision of that Saturday night. I was there to see
the beginning in her home. She went up some almost perpendicular stairs; she
began going through different rooms, and right away her father sensed that she
was looking for her rubber sandals. He put them near the girl's feet. She
had hardly put them on when she fell violently on her knees, and leaned
backwards till she struck her head smack against the floor. Her father
Ceferino, told Jacinta, who was present, to ask her:(13)

— What did that smack on your head do to you?

We all saw the girl in ecstasy open her lips in a slight smile and answer:

— What smack?

A little later, Jacinta went into ecstasy too. The two went into the street
and began their march toward the Pines while saying the second rosary of the
night. On the hilltop they fell on their knees. Afterwards, they went
backwards . . . By their attitude they gave the impression that the weight
of the world was lying upon them and crushing them.

The descent from the hill, backwards, was amazing. Instead of coming down by
the regular straight way, they took a transverse shortcut, without following
any trail, after going over an almost vertical cliff of considerable height.
It seemed to me that the future that they were seeing was moving quite
gradually, so that they
could glide slowly toward the village.

And down below, I don't think there was a street or alley that didn't see
the passage of the night rosary procession. Even the young men singing and
drinking in a tavern couldn't avoid it, since the girls entered the tavern
and gave them
the crucifix to kiss; they certainly took on an attitude of complete
respect.(14)

During these marches back and forth, Mari Loli lost one of her sandals; a
little later, she began to retrace her way back, while walking backwards, until
her bare foot touched against the lost sandal. Without lowering her head and
without using her hands, she put it on her foot.

Seconds later, graciously raising her arms, she began to run at dizzying
speed, avoiding all types of obstacles. Suddenly she stopped beside a
stranger of elegant appearance: this was Concepción Zorrilla, a member of
the cast of a foreign
theatrical company that had performed in Madrid several days previously.
This woman, before returning to her native Uruguay, had detoured from the
route to Paris, desiring to go up to that remote spot on the Spanish
map in search
of . . .

What she was searching for — certainly an answer to her doubts and worries —
she must have found when the girl in ecstasy, with her gaze upwards and
without turning her head toward her, held out her arm, giving her the
crucifix
to kiss. She refused it two times, but had to give in to the sweet
persistence of the girl and put her lips on the sacred image, while big tears
ran down from her eyes. She herself confessed later that, if she had held
back from the crucifix, she had done it only because she considered herself
completely unworthy to give it her kiss.

9. It may have been during the ecstasy at the Pines that Conchita heard the
voice that was foretold, telling her the date of the milagrucu (little
miracle); or it may have been during the day while she was walking alone
through the area.

10. The affairs of Garabandal always brought those who were watching them,
and who were not too frivolous, to this attitude of respect, silence and
meditation.

11. Christians realize that the dead are not in the tombs. The dead in the
essential part of their being — their soul or their spirit — are in another
location. What is in the grave is not the person but his remains or dust,
which deserve great care, and from which afterward will come the restoration
and the life after the resurrection.

12. The Credo that is ordinarily said outside the Mass is more brief than
this; in speaking of the Church, it only says: I believe in One Holy
Catholic Church, without the Apostolic and Roman. Perhaps the child,
inspired from above — and therefore not comprehending the reason — was
warning in advance against certain ecumenical attitudes that were going to
come and which would lead the Church into confusion.

13. As has already been mentioned in the early chapters, the girl in ecstasy
was not able to establish communication with anyone except another visionary
in the normal state.

14. The young men’s attitude is not unexpected. Rather negative toward the
practice of religion as all those of that age and environment are inclined,
they were furthermore habituated to the things that were happening in their
village every day; perhaps also, a little tired of them. How could
they beexpected to renounce all their leisure time!